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A GROUP OF 



DISTINGUISHED 



Physicians and Surgeons 



CHICAGO 



A Collection of Biographical Sketches of Many of the Eminent 
Representatives, Past and Present, of the Med- 
ical Profession of Chicago 



Compiled by F. M. SPERRY 



ILLUSTRATED 



CHICAGO 

J . H. BEERS & CO. 

1 9 O 4 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Allen, Jonathan Adams 127 

Andrews, Edmund 53 

Babcock, Robert Hall 123 

Bartlett, John 44 

Billings, Frank 168 

Bishop, Seth Scott 195 

Blaney, James Van Zandt 77 

Bogue, R. G 207 

Brainard, Daniel 236 

Brophy, Truman W 209 

Brower, Daniel Roberts 99 

Byford, Henry T 154 

Byford, William Heath 10 

Cary, Frank 66 

Christopher, Walter S 142 

Church, Archibald 97 

Cotton, Alfred Cleveland 215 

Danforth, Isaac N 120 

Davis, Nathan Smith, Jr 175 

Davis, Nathan Smith, Sr 1 

De Lee, Joseph Bolivar 211 

Dewey, Richard : 198 

Dickinson, Frances 150 

Dudley, E. C 63 

Dyas, William Godfrey 148 

Earle, Charles Warrington 163 

Evans, John 185 

Favill, Henry Baird 199 

Fenger, Christian 35 

Freer, Joseph W 194 

Goodkind, Maurice L 220 

Gunn, Moses 130 



PAGE 

Hall, Winfield Scott 133 

Hamilton, John B 233 

Harmon, Elijah D 42 

Harris, Malcolm LaSalle 230 

Hektoen, Ludvig 132 

Henrotin, Fernand 127 

Herrick, William B 103 

Hollister, John Hamilcar 201 

Holmes, Edward Lorenzo 79 

Hotz, Ferdinand Carl 105 

Ingals, Ephraim 235 

Ingals, Ephraim Fletcher 107 

Jackson, Abraham Reeves 72 

Jewell, James Stewart 219 

Johnson, Frank Seward 52 

Johnson, Hosmer Allen 49 

Jones, Samuel J 206 

Lyman, Henry M 32 

Martin, Franklin H 1S9 

Mergler, Marie J HO 

Miller, DeLaskie 46 

Miller, Truman W 106 

Murphy, John B 73 

Newman, Henry Parker 89 

Owens, John E 184 

Parkes, Charles Theodore 221 

Quine, William E 69 

Ranch, John M 117 

Rea, Robert Laughlin 90 

Ridlon. John 179 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Robinson, Byron 114 

Robison, John Albert 100 

Senn, Nicholas 15 

Smith, Charles Oilman 141 

Stevenson, Sarah Hackett 145 

Talbot, Eugene Solomon 81 



PAGE 

Thompson, Mary Harris »7 

Van Hook, VVeller 187 

Waite, Lucy 02 

Waugh. William F 128 

Wolcott, Alexander 31 

Wood, Casey A 203 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



OF CHICAGO 




J. J 9, 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



NATHAN SMITH DAVIS, M. D., Sr. 

In considering the character and career of this eminent member of the 
medical faculty, the impartial observer will be disposed to rank him not only 
among the most distinguished members of his profession, but also as one of 
those men of broad culture and genuine benevolence who do honor to man- 
kind at large. In overcoming obstacles, he has exhibited patience and per- 
sistence ; through a long and busy life he has known none but worthy motives ; 
to the practice of his profession he has brought rare skill and inventive 
resource ; while in the imparting of instruction, whether through his pen or in 
the class room, he has shown profound aptness. Such qualities as these stamp 
him as a man of genius, and entitle him to be classed with the benefactors of 
mankind. 

Dr. Davis was born on January 9, 181 7, in a rude cabin of logs, erected 
by his father, Dow Davis, among the primitive forests of Chenango county, 
New York, of which his parents were pioneer settlers. He was the young- 
est of a family of seven children, and was deprived of a mother's care at the 
tender age of seven years, Mrs. Davis, whose maiden name was Eleanor 
Smith, having died in 1824. His father lived to attain the extraordinary age 
of ninety years, and died upon the farm which he had reclaimed from the 
giants of the forest. 

The early years of Dr. Davis's life were passed much as were those of 
other farmers' sons in a new settlement, i. e., in hard work during the summer, 
and in attendance upon the district schools in the winter months. This alterna- 
tion of study with work continued until he reached the age of sixteen years, 
and there can be little doubt that outdoor life and manual exercise did much to 
build up his naturally spare form into healthy, robust manhood. At the same 
time, it is probable that a frontier life was not without its influence in forming 



2 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

and fostering those habits of industry and self-reliance which proved such 
potent factors in achieving success in after life. 

While yet a boy, however, he displayed an inborn thirst for knowledge, 
a fondness for- study, and an aptitude in acquiring such learning as Avas 
within his reach, which convinced his father that to confine his native abilities 
within the limits of a woodland farm would be to do the boy an injustice; and 
while possessed of only limited means, he sent young Nathan to the Cazenovia 
Seminary when the latter had reached his sixteenth year. He attended that 
institution for only one session, but his thirst was intensified, rather than 
slaked, and in April, 1834, he began the study of the profession on whose prac- 
tice and schools, whose ethics and culture, he was destined to shed a brilliant 
and a permanent light. His first preceptor was Dr. Daniel Clark, of Che- 
nango county. Within a few months he entered the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Western New York, as a matriculant, graduating therefrom, 
with distinguished honor, on January 31, 1837, before he had reached the 
age which entitled him to exercise the right of suffrage. Meanwhile, he had 
become a student in the office of Dr. Thomas Jackson, of Binghamton. New 
York, continuing under his instruction until he received his final degree. 

The subject of his graduating thesis was 'Animal Temperature." and in 
this he combated the (then) generally accepted theory that the evolution of 
heat had its origin in the union of oxygen and carbon in the lungs, maintain- 
ing that its evolution was in the tissues. The inherent merit of his argument 
was such, and the premises upon which it rested were so accurately estahlished 
by experimental investigation, that the Faculty of the college selected it as 
one of those to be publicly read on the day of his graduation. He began his 
professional career as a general practitioner, at Vienna, New York, his partner 
being Dr. Daniel Chatfield. The field was too narrow to meet his aspirations, 
and he soon felt its limitations. His partnership with Dr. Chatfield was 
formed in February, 1837, and the following July it was dissolved, Dr. Davis 
removing to Binghamton, in the same State, where he at once commanded 
professional confidence and popular patronage. He had scarcely resided at 
Binghamton for a year when he was married to Anna Maria, a daughter of 
Hon. John Parker, of Vienna, for whom he had formed a strong attachment 
during his brief sojourn in that village. 

The exacting demands of a constantly increasing general practice did not 
hamper Dr. Davis in the prosecution of those scientific studies which lay near- 
est to his heart. Chemistry, Medical Botany, Geology and Political Economy 
were among his favorite subjects of research, while at the same time he strove 
to perfect himself in the study of Surgical Anatomy. Even at this early 
period in his career, he displayed that interest in a sound professional educa- 
tion which so pre-eminently characterized him in later years. It was his 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 3 

habit, during the winter, months, to dissect one or two cadavers, in a room 
adjoining his office, for the purpose of instructing the resident medical stu- 
dents of Binghamton, and he frequently responded to requests to lecture on 
topics connected with Physiology, Botany and Chemistry, before the advanced 
pupils of the district schools, and for the Binghamton Academy. Of the last 
named institution he was one of the founders, as also of the Lyceum Debating 
Society of Binghamton ; and it is worth while to state that it was largely in 
this amateur school of oratory and debate that he acquired that fluency of dic- 
tion, perspicacity of statement, solidity of argument and aptness of illustration 
which, in after years, contributed to his eminence as a lecturer and a writer. 
He was yet a young man when he was elected a member of the Broome 
County Medical Society, of which body he was Secretary from 1841 to 1843, 
and Librarian from 1843 to 1847, as well as a member of the Board of Cen- 
sors for several years. In 1843 ne was chosen a delegate to represent his 
county organization at the annual meeting of the State Medical Society, at 
Albany. Even at this time he was well and favorably known to the profession 
throughout the State of New York by reason of many valuable brochures 
which had already appeared from his pen. In 1840 (three years after grad- 
uation) he had won the first prize offered by the State Society for the best 
essay upon "Diseases of the Spinal Column, their Causes, Diagnosis and Mode 
of Treatment." In 1841 he had won another prize through his contribution to 
medical science entitled "Analysis of the Discoveries concerning the Physi- 
ology of the Nervous System." It followed that when he took his seat as a 
delegate in the body which represented the highest medical learning of the 
State his voice was heard with respectful attention. It was then and there 
that he made his first public plea for a higher standard of professional quali- 
fication. He introduced a series of resolutions which, even because of their 
novelty, could scarcely have failed to provoke discussion. He was in advance 
of the time, but he was "building better than he knew." They called for a 
better general education for medical postulants, a lengthening of the course 
of instruction, a grading of the curriculum, and the establishment of inde- 
pendent boards of medical examiners. While his proposed resolutions were 
not adopted they gave rise to earnest and thoughtful discussion. At the next 
annual meeting of the State Society (in February, 1845) a ca ^ was issued for 
a National Convention of Delegates from medical colleges and societies 
throughout the Union, "to meet at New York, on the first Tuesday in May, 
1846, for the purpose of adopting some concerted action." Dr. Davis' was 
made chairman of the committee to summon the convention and carry the 
project to a successful result. The work was well done; and from this incep- 
tion has grown the American Medical Association, embracing representatives 
from every State and from every reputable college in the country; an organ- 



4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

ization universal, permanent and efficient, and for the formation of which the 
medical profession of the United States and of the world owes Dr. Davis a 
deep and lasting debt of gratitude. During the entire history of the organiza- 
tion he has played an important part, alike in its proceedings and its advance- 
ment. During more than half a century he was absent from only four 
of its annual meetings, and in its achievements he may well feel a personal — 
almost a paternal — pride, having been more thoroughly identified with its 
success than any other individual physician in the land. 

The wider acquaintance with his professional brethren, which was a nec- 
essary concomitant of his attendance upon these State and National gather- 
ings, naturally resulted in an enlargement of his views as to his own personal 
sphere of practice and usefulness. In the summer of 1847 he removed to 
New York City, where, for a time, he was a general practitioner. The light 
of his genius, however, burned too vividly long to be "hid under a bushel." 
His first position as an instructor was in the New York College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, when he took charge of the dissecting rooms, and taught Prac- 
tical Anatomy. ' Later, by special request of the Faculty, he delivered the 
spring term course of lectures upon Medical Jurisprudence. In July, 1849. he 
accepted the proffered Chair of Physiology and General Pathology in Rush 
Medical College, Chicago. He deferred entering upon the duties of his new 
position until September, because of an epidemic of cholera then prevailing in 
New York, as well as in most of the cities and many of the rural districts 
throughout the country. Until the end of August his time was fully occupied, 
night and day, in the care of the sufferers from the deadly scourge. He deliv- 
ered his introductory lecture at Rush the first week in October. In this con- 
nection may be quoted the words of two other eminent Chicago practitioners, 
Drs. Senn and Lyman. Dr. Nicholas Senn, the eminent surgeon, than whom 
no better authority can be quoted, gives him this unstinted praise : "He is 
unquestionably the Nestor of Medicine in Chicago. His capacity for work 
seems as limitless as his energy is indomitable. As a teacher he is clear, 
painstaking and successful. His intellectual powers are of the highest order, 
his mind being medico-judicial and profoundly analytical." Dr. Lyman says 
that he is "a pioneer physician of Chicago ; an early associate of Rush Medi- 
cal; a great worker; close observer and describer; exceedingly industrious, 
and the founder of the Northwestern University Medical School." 

At the time of Dr. Davis's coming, Chicago could not boast more than 
23,000 inhabitants, and the city was far from being healthy, owing to its situ- 
ation on a low prairie, with no sewerage and only a very limited supply of 
water other than that obtained from wells, which were apt to be more or less 
contaminated. He at once comprehended the need of sanitary reforms and a 
permanent general hospital, and set himself to work to secure both ends ; and 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 5 

from that time to the present he has heen actively identified with every 
important educational, scientific and sanitary interest in Chicago. In 1850 he 
delivered a course of six public lectures, before large audiences, in which he 
urged the immediate need for a supply of purer water from the bosom of the 
lake, and of a system of conduits for the removal of the city's sewage. In 
addition, he convincingly demonstrated the feasibility of both projects. A 
small admission fee to these lectures was charged, and with the proceeds was 
established a small hospital, with twelve beds, out of which has grown Mercy 
Hospital, with its accommodation for three hundred and fifty patients and its 
ample facilities for clinical instruction. For nearly forty years Dr. Davis was 
the senior member of the attending staff of this institution, his connection 
therewith continuing until 1890. Meanwhile, he was transferred from his 
original Chair at Rush College to that of Principles and Practice of Medi- 
cine and Clinical Medicine, which he filled until the spring of 1859, bringing 
to his newly assigned duties rare ability, consummate learning and conscien- 
tious fidelity. 

He did not, however, for a moment, lose sight of his interest in the 
advancement of the standard of professional education, notwithstanding the 
fact that his own college prescribed only two yearly terms of four months 
each as essential for a diploma. In 1859 an opportunity was afforded him to 
"show his faith by his works." In that year the Chicago Medical College was 
founded, with requirements for admission and graduation somewhat along the 
lines which he had been advocating for years. A moderate amount of pre- 
liminary education was required for matriculation, three annual courses of six 
months each were prescribed, and a curriculum graded to correspond, as well 
as regular attendance on hospital clinics. He was offered a chair correspond- 
ing to that which he held at Rush, and at once determined to lend his aid to the 
new institution, even at the cost of not a little personal sacrifice. The first 
term of the infant institution — now the Medical Department of the North- 
western University — began in the fall of 1859. Only thirty students were 
enrolled, but its growth has been steady, and to-day it stands in the front rank 
of American medical colleges. For more than forty years Dr. Davis was con- 
nected with its Faculty, more recently as Dean and Emeritus Professor of 
Principles and Practice of Medicine. 

Dr. Davis has been a prominent and active member in many medical 
societies and associations. He was one of the organizers of the Illinois. State 
Medical Society, of which he was elected President in 1855, and served as 
Secretary for twelve consecutive years. He also aided in founding the Chi- 
cago Medical Society, and has taken a deep interest in its welfare. Of the 
American Medical Association he has ever been one of the main supports, and 
to its proceedings he has contributed numerous papers of unexcelled interest 



6 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

and value. No member has ever had a clearer perception of the true purpose 
and proper scope of the association than he, and in 1897 he prepared a brief 
history of its origin and progress, which was read at the meeting of that year, 
and published in pamphlet form. When, in 1883, it was decided to publish the 
transactions of the association in the form of a weekly journal instead of an 
annual volume, he was selected to edit the same, and for six years he dis- 
charged the laborious duties of this position with singular fidelity, and with 
such success that when he retired therefrom, in 1889, the Journal of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association was established on a solid financial basis. He took 
an active part in arranging the preliminaries for the International Medical 
Congress held at Washington, in August, 1887, and was first chosen Secre- 
tary General of the Executive Committee, and subsequently succeeded the late 
Dr. Austin Flint, of New York, as President. While engaged in his duties 
as Secretary, and arranging for the meeting of the Congress, while at the 
same time neglecting neither his private practice, his college and hospital 
duties, nor his editorial work, he was attacked by complete hemiplegia of the 
right half of the body and extremities, although the paralysis proved only tem- 
porary. 

As a general practitioner, Dr. Davis has been an unwearied worker, and 
his success at times has been little less than marvelous. He passed through the 
cholera epidemics of 1849, l &5 2 > J 854 and 1866 with unremitting zeal in his 
efforts to alleviate suffering and effect cures. At the bedside of a patient his 
tender touch, his pleasant smile and kindly voice both invite and inspire confi- 
dence. Nor has he ever failed to respond to the call of the sick poor, and thou- 
sands of Chicago's needy ones can testify to the generosity which neither 
asked nor expected reward. As a man, he is genial and courteous. As an 
instructor, enthusiastic, painstaking and interesting. As a reasoner. he is clear 
and convincing, his comparisons quick, and his judgment well-nigh unerring. 
He has been a member of the Methodist Church since his sixteenth year, and 
has always consistently exemplified the religion which he professed, and at the 
same time been keenly alive to the duties of a public-spirited citizen. He was 
one of the founders of the Northwestern University, of the Chicago Academy 
of Sciences, the Chicago Historical Society, the Illinois State Microscopical 
Society, the Union College of Law — in which he for a time filled the Chair 
of Medical Jurisprudence — and the Washingtonian Home. In the cause of 
temperance he has ever taken a lively interest, discouraging the use of alco- 
holic stimulants in professional practice, and being a valued contributor to the 
American Medical Temperance Quarterly. His benefactions to both public 
and private charity are large, and he has taken active part in promoting the 
organization of systematic relief for the destitute. 

As a writer the Doctor has been not only prolific, but clear and facile as 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 7 

well. Within the first year after his graduation he became a contributor to 
medical journals and in 1848 assumed editorial management of the Annalist, 
a semi-monthly publication. The number of valuable papers, reports and 
addresses communicated to medical societies and periodicals has been exceed- 
ingly large, and in addition thereto he is the author of the following publi- 
cations in book form : "A Text-Book on Agricultural Chemistry, for Use in 
District and Public Schools," for which a prize was awarded by the State 
Agricultural Society of New York, 1848; "History of Medical Education and 
Institutions in the United States, from the First Settlement of the British 
Provinces to the Year 1850, with a Chapter on the Present Condition and 
Wants of the Profession, and the Means Necessary for Supplying those 
Wants," 185 1 ; "A Lecture on the Effects of Alcoholic Drinks on the Human 
System, and the Duties of Medical Men in Relation thereto," delivered in the 
Rush Medical College, December 25, 1854, with an appendix containing orig- 
inal experiments in relation to the effects of alcohol on respiration and animal 
heat; "History of the American Medical Association, from its Organization 
to the Year 1855;" "Clinical Lectures on Various Important Diseases," 1875; 
"Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Medicine," delivered in the Chi- 
cago Medical College, 1884, second edition, 1887; "Address on the Progress 
of Medical Education in the United States of America, During the Century 
Ending in 1876," delivered before the International Medical Congress, at 
Philadelphia, September 9, 1876, published in the volume of transactions of 
that congress ; the chapter on "Bronchitis" in the American System of Medi- 
cine, edited by W. Pepper, Philadelphia; the chapters on "Chronic Alcohol- 
ism, Polyuria and Chronic Articular Rheumatism" in the Reference Hand- 
Book of Medical Sciences, New York, William Wood & Co., 1886; and the 
"Address of the President of the Ninth International Medical Congress," 
delivered before the Congress in Washington, D. C, August, 1887, published 
in the first volume of the Transactions of the Congress, 1887. 

Dr. Eugene S. Talbot writes: "Dr. N. S. Davis has been a lifelong 
friend to the science of dentistry. Believing that dental science is an insep- 
arable part of the healing art, he has urged for decades that it be taught in 
medical colleges like other medical specialties. In July, 1865, at an entertain- 
ment given by him to the members of the American Dental Association, he 
responded to the sentiment 'To the President of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry, Departments of a Common 
Science. Their principles should constitute a Common Brotherhood.' Upon 
that occasion he said, 'Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry are actually Depart- 
ments of a Common Science. They are all based upon chemistry, anatomy, 
physiology, pathology and materia medica. Without chemistry and anatomy 
no one of you, as dentists, can know either the composition or structure of a 



8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

single tooth, or its connections with the jaws, # gums, blood vessels, nerves, etc. 
Without physiology no one could know the natural uses and influences of the 
several parts just named or, the relations of the teeth to the whole process of 
digestion, assimilation and nutrition. As pathology bears the same relation 
to organized structures in an imperfect or diseased condition as physiology 
does to them in the natural, so without a knowledge of it, neither the physi- 
cian, surgeon nor dentist could know anything of the origin, nature and ten- 
dencies of the diseases and defects he professes to treat. The materia medica, 
in its full scope, includes everything that can be made useful in the mitigation 
or removal of any of the ills to which our race is liable.' 

"In 1 88 1, at a meeting of the American Medical Association, a resolution 
offered by the late Dr. Samuel D. Gross, that 'a Section of Dental and Oral 
Surgery be created on the same footing as all other sections of that body,' 
and seconded by Dr. Davis, was carried. Dental and Oral Surgery were thus 
professionally recognized as a department of medicine. Six years later, under 
a belief that there were able men practicing dentistry who, though not medical 
graduates, were yet entitled to recognition, and in order to unite still more 
intimately dentistry with other, departments of medicine and surgery, Dr. 
Davis at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, in Chicago, 
1887, offered the following resolution, which was adopted by nearly a unani- 
mous vote, 'Resolved, That the regular graduates of such Dental Schools and 
Colleges as require of their students a standard of preliminary or general edu- 
cation and a term of professional study equal to the best class of the medical 
colleges of this country, and embrace in their curriculum all the fundamental 
branches of medicine, differing chiefly by substituting practical and clinical 
instruction in dental and oral medicine and surgery in place of clinical instruc- 
tion in general medicine and surgery, be recognized as members of the regular 
profession of medicine, and eligible to membership in the Association on the 
same conditions and subject to the same regulations as all other members.' 

"In a paper read before the Section of Stomatology of the American 
Medical Association held in Atlantic City, June 5-8, 1900, Dr. Davis has said, 
'obviously there is no more propriety in having a separate profession of dentis- 
try than there is of ophthalmology or, neurology or gynecology. The same 
standard of preliminary education, and the same curriculum of medical studies 
covering the four, years' course, should be required of all who propose to prac- 
tice in any of the departments or specialties of medicine and surgery. All 
should be required to pass the same examining boards, be designated by the 
same title, M. D., and be governed by the same rules, both ethical and legal. 
Let there be in every medical college faculty a Professor of Dental and Oral 
Pathology and Practice on the same basis that you have a Professor of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 9 

Ophthalmology, Neurology or Gynecology. The instruction by an efficient 
occupant of such a Chair is needed as an important aid to every practitioner of 
medicine, whether his field of practice is in the city or the country. For if he 
never attempts to treat a defective tooth or a diseased gum, he should be able 
to recognize the existence of such condition and promptly direct the sufferers 
to those who would treat them.' 

"The admitted advance in the professional status of American Dentistry 
during the past three decades has undoubtedly been largely due to the unselfish 
zeal of Dr. N. S. Davis for the best interests of all departments of medicine." 

Dr. Daniel R. Brower writes : "One of the most remarkable men the 
country has produced, and in addition to his great scientific attainments, his 
clear judgment of things, has been wonderfully gifted in language. I could 
regard him as a good orator as well as a great physician." 

Dr. Christian Fenger wrote: "Dr. N. S. Davis, St., is the father of 
medical organization in this country and is the founder of the American 
Medical Association. He has always been the champion of higher medical 
education. His fixedness of purpose and unswerving devotion to high princi- 
ple have made him the most honored member of the medical profession of this 
country." 

Dr. Frank Billings wrote : "Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., is a man of wonderful 
native ability, whose indefatigable, painstaking, untiring .energy in the study 
and practice of medicine, and the practice and the example of a virtuous, 
moral, upright life, place him far above his fellows — a leader of leaders of 
men. Full of years and fuller of honors worthily earned, he affords an exam- 
ple which all should imitate, though few if any will attain the heights he so 
modestly occupies." 

Dr. W. F. Waugh writes : "No Chicago physician is more widely known, 
more highly respected, than the venerable father of the American Medical 
Association, and of Chicago medicine, Dr. N. S. Davis. His strong advo- 
cacy of temperance, in a section of the country where temperance truths have 
not preponderated in the last half century, shows his fearless independence and 
strong sense of right." 

Dr. John Ridlon writes : "For half a century the most notable figure in 
Western medicine. A man of untiring energy and of inflexible will. A 
leader of great men; a ruler of little men. The most learned physician in 
America. A man of childlike simplicity, with a mind open to scientific truth 
from any source, no matter how humble." 



io A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

WILLIAM HEATH BYFORD, A. M., M. D. 

The death of Dr. William H. Byford, which occurred at Chicago on May 
21, 1890, was not only a profound affliction to his family and his circle of 
immediate friends, but also a positive loss to the cause of medical education ; 
while at the same time marking the removal from active practice of an eminent 
surgeon and the termination of one of the most successful courses in scientific 
surgery that has illustrated the present era of progress. 

Dr. Byford was born at Eaton, Ohio, March 20, 181 7. His ancestors 
came to America from Suffolk, England, and the only patrimony which he in- 
herited consisted of the physical vigor and the tenacity of purpose characteristic 
of the race from which he sprang. Not long after his birth his parents removed 
to New Albany, and later to the little village of Hindostan, Indiana. There 
William H. attended a district school, but the death of his father, before he 
had reached the age of nine years, compelled him to devote his time and ener- 
gies entirely to manual labor, in order that from his scanty earnings he might 
contribute to the maintenance of his widowed mother and her destitute fam- 
ily. Four years after his father's death he and his mother went to live upon 
her father's farm in Crawford county, Indiana, but here, too, the boy found 
labor a necessity. At the age of fourteen he formed the purpose of learning 
the blacksmith's trade, but could find no master of that craft willing to accept 
him as an apprentice. Baffled in this direction, he turned to the tailors, with 
whom he was more successful. One whom Dr. Byford himself described as 
"a kind-hearted Christian gentleman by the name of Davis*' took him into 
his shop. There the boy remained two years, completing his apprenticeship at 
Vincennes, where he served four years longer. 

Young Byford, however, was conscious of a capability for something 
higher and better than he could attain through this humble handicraft. While 
serving as an apprentice he borrowed books and devoted every leisure moment 
after his daily toil to study. Such were his zeal, industry and unremitting 
energy that he thus acquired an excellent knowledge of English, besides mak- 
ing some progress in the rudiments of Latin, Greek and French. Chemistry. 
Physiology and Natural History later engrossed his mental efforts, and it was 
probably the fascination which these branches of study possessed for him that 
first made him feel his God-prompted vocation for the medical profession. 
He resolved to become a physician, and Dr. Joseph Maddox, of Vincennes, 
received him into his office as a student. So keen was his intellect, so quick 
was his comprehension, and so assiduous his application, that in less than two 
years, after, passing an examination before a State Board of Commissioners 
he was found qualified to engage in the practice of medicine and surgery, 
under the then existing law. He first established himself professionally at 




^^L^-w*- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. n 

Owensville, Indiana, in August, 1838. Two years later he removed to Mount 
Vernon, where he became associated with Dr. Hezekiah Holland, whose 
daughter, Miss Mary Ann, he married in 1840. 

After his ten years' residence at Mount Vernon, Dr. Byford attended a 
course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College, and was graduated from that 
institution in 1845. I* 1 I &47 he performed two Cesarean operations, and, 
while it does not appear that either of them was absolutely successful, yet the 
excellent account of them which he published, and which was followed by 
other contributions to medical journals, at once attracted the general attention 
of the profession and gained for him an enviable reputation. In October, 
1850, he was chosen to the Professorship of Anatomy at the Evansville (Indi- 
ana) Medical College, and accordingly removed to that city. Two years later 
he was transferred to the Chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine, which 
he filled until the college became extinct, in 1854, during a portion of the 
time aiding in editing a medical journal published at Evansville, known as the 
Indiana Medical Journal. In 1854 he became a member of the American 
Medical Association and was made a special committee on Scrofula. On this 
subject he prepared an elaborate and valuable report, which commanded wide- 
spread attention and greatly added to his constantly growing reputation. In 
May, 1857, he was Vice-President of the association. In the autumn of that 
year he accepted the Professorship of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and 
Children at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and removed with his family to 
that city. For two years he discharged the duties of this position with distin- 
guished ability, but resigned in 1859 to accept the same chair in the Chicago 
Medical College, of which institution — then in its infancy — he was one of the 
founders. His motives in taking this step were of a character which reflected 
high honor on his professional zeal and foresight, and wholly unselfish. He 
was anxious for the establishment of a medical college which should insist 
upon enlarged annual courses, afford a more systematic and better graded cur- 
riculum, and which should require better preliminary preparation on the part 
of matriculants. For twenty years he filled his chair at the Chicago Medical 
College, witnessing not only its growth but also seeing the gradual adoption 
of the principles which he had so earnestly and so ably advocated. In 1879 
he was recalled to Rush Medical College, to occupy the Chair of Gynecology, 
which had been especially created for him. 

As an instructor — alike in the lectures and class rooms — Dr. Byford was 
at once perspicuous yet profound, going down into the very depths of scientific 
research, yet always simple in his enunciation of the most recondite truths. 
His clinics were always crowded with students and practitioners, and the 
utmost attention was always paid to his slightest word. In the medical educa- 
tion of women he was one of the pioneers of the West. He was one of the 



12 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

founders of the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, aiding its formation by- 
giving freely of his time, his influence and his wealth. The institution was 
organized in 1870 and Dr. By ford became president of the Faculty, as well as 
of the Board of Trustees, both of which positions he held until his death. 
Indeed, it may be questioned whether the success of that institution was not 
dearer to him than that of any other undertaking of his life. The success of 
the Woman's Hospital is also largely attributed to his tireless and unflagging 
zeal. Himself one of the eminent gynecologists of the century, he was anx- 
ious that the knowledge of this important specialty in medical practice should 
spread among his professional brethren. In 1876 he was one of the founders 
of the American Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. He was at one time 
its Vice-President and later its President, 'continuing in active membership 
until he died. He was also a prime mover in the organization of the Chicago 
Gynecological Society and a life member of the British Gynecological 
Society. There are many measures in practice with which his name is inti- 
mately connected; for example, the use of ergot in fibroid tumors of the 
uterus; drainage per rectum abscesses that have previously discharged into 
that viscus; abdominal section for ruptured extra-uterine pregnancy, pro- 
posed before the days of Tait ; and the systematic use of the slippery elm tent. 
He was the first in this country to advocate stitching the open sac to the 
abdominal wound after enucleation of cysts of the broad ligament. 

As a practitioner Dr. By ford was singularly successful. He was in gen- 
eral practice for, twenty-two years before he made gynecology his specialty. 
He possessed in an eminent degree that subtle faculty sometimes called per- 
sonal magnetism, which was never, more clearly manifested than by the readi- 
ness with which children responded to his constant and always friendly notice. 
As a consultant he was unfailing in courtesy and scrupulously honorable 
toward his confreres. As a companion he was genial, yet never unmindful 
of proper limitations. As a friend he was sympathetic, generous and true. 
His domestic life was one of ideal happiness. Reference has been already 
made to his marriage to the daughter of his professional partner at Mount 
Vernon — Miss Mary Ann Holland. Mrs. Byford, who died in 1865. was 
noted alike for her earnest Christian character and her many domestic virtues. 
Dr. and Mrs. Byford had the following named children : W. H. Byford. Jr., 
M. D., deceased; Dr. Henry T. Byford, an eminent gynecologist of Chicago; 
Mrs. Anna Byford Leonard; Mrs. Mary B. Schuyler; and Mrs. Maud B. 
VanSchaack. In 1873 tne Doctor married Miss Lina W. Flershem, of Buf- 
falo. The only child of the second union died in infancy. 

Dr. Byford was a devout Christian, alike in professed faith and in daily 
life. His death was not preceded by any lingering, painful illness. Although 
for three years he had been conscious of symptoms of heart disease, he contin- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 13. 

ued in active practice, and not until the last hours of his life was there any 
impairment of his mental faculties. Four days before his death he performed 
abdominal section for the removal of the appendages on account of fibroid 
tumor of the uterus, and on the day preceding his death he attended to his 
customary professional duties. His demise was sudden. Early on the morn- 
ing of May 21, 1890, he succumbed to an attack of angina pectoris. An ano- 
dyne was administered by a neighboring physician, and Dr. Henry T. Byford 
was hastily summoned. Before the son could reach his father's bedside, 
however, the latter was unconscious, and at 2 a. m. he entered into eternal. 
rest. 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., paid the following eulogy to this distinguished 
member of the profession: "The late William Heath Byford of Chicago is 
the best example of a literally self-educated man, who attained a deservedly 
high reputation as a medical practitioner, teacher and writer, as well as a man 
of honor, integrity and of humanity, with whom I have been acquainted. He 
spent nearly all the years usually allotted to school education in diligent labor 
to aid in supporting a widowed mother and family. From his ninth to his 
twenty-first year of age he was thus employed. Yet through it all he managed 
to obtain the necessary books, and perseveringly devoted his evenings, odd 
hours, and rainy days to their study. Thereby he came to legal age with a bet- 
ter practical education, including both Greek and Latin, than is possessed by 
many of the graduates of our High Schools. Then he studied medicine, and. 
entering upon practice he advanced step by step until he reached an honor- 
able position among the most highly honored of his profession. He was a 
persevering supporter of whatever tended to the elevation of medical educa- 
tion and the practical usefulness of the profession. The prominent 
traits of his character were simplicity and kindness, clearness of perception 
and practical application, with an unyielding perseverance in the pursuit of 
whatever he deemed attainable and right." 

Comparatively little has been said, in the preceding paragraphs, in refer- 
ence to Dr.' Byford as an author. His principal editorial work was done as 
associate editor of the Chicago Medical Journal (with Dr. N. S. Davis) and 
as editor-in-chief of the Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, which was 
a combination of the Journal and the Examiner, and was published under the 
auspices of the Chicago Medical Press Association. For a time he also edited 
the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal. His contributions to current 
medical literature were frequent (his favorite subject being Gynecology) *and 
were always well received. He was a prolific writer, yet he never lapsed into 
weakness, nor, did he ever become uninteresting or tautological. Indeed, with 
a mind like his — at once analytic and synthetic — his works could not fail to 
command attention. A list of Dr. William H. Byford's articles and works is 
appended : 



i 4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

"Cesarean Section," 1847; "Treatment of Continued or Typhoid 
Fever," American Journal of Medical Science, 185 1; "Milk Sickness"; 
Report Committee on Scrofula, Transactions, American Medical Association, 
1855; "Physiology, Pathology and Therapeutics of Muscular Exercise," Chi- 
cago, J. Barnet, 1858; "A case of Pelvic Abscess," Transactions, Illinois State 
Medical Society, 1859; "Successful Ovariotomy," Chicago Medical Exam- 
iner, i860; "Ovarian Tumors. Is Ovariotomy a Justifiable Operation?" 
Ibid., 1861 ; "Two Successful Cases of Ovariotomy," Ibid., 1863; "Removal 
of Multilocular Tumor Weighing Thirty Pounds," Ibid., 1863; "A Treatise 
on the Chronic Inflammation and Displacements of the Unimpregnate 
Uterus," Philadelphia, Lindsay & Blakiston, 1864; "The Practice of Medicine 
and Surgery Applied to the Diseases and Accidents Incident to Women," 
Philadelphia, Lindsay & Blakiston, i865;"The Philosophy of Domestic Life," 
Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1869; "A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of 
Obstetrics," New York, William Wood & Co., 1870; "An Address Introduc- 
tory to the Course of Instruction in the Woman's Hospital Medical College, 
Session of 1870-71," Chicago, R. Fergus' Sons; "The Address in Obstetrics 
and Diseases of Women and Children," Transactions, American Medical 
Association, 1875; "Treatment of Uterine Fibroids by Ergot," Ibid., 1875-, 
"The Causes and Treatment of Non-puerperal Hemorrhages pf the Womb." 
Transactions, International Medical Congress, Philadelphia, 1876; "The 
Spontaneous and Artificial Destruction and Expulsion of Fibrous Tumors of 
the Uterus," Transactions, American Gynecological Society, 1876; '"The Sec- 
ond Decade of Life," annual address before the Tri-State Medical Society, 
1877; "Dermoid Ovarian Tumors," Transactions, American Gynecological 
Society, 1879; "A Case of Double Operation of Ovariotomy and Hyster- 
otomy, with Remarks," American Journal of Obstetrics, 1879; "On Puerperal 
Vaginitis and Laceration as Causes of Yesico-vaginal Fistula," Chicago Med- 
ical Journal and Examiner, 1879; "Ergot in the Treatment of Fibroid 
Tumors of the Uterus," Ibid., 1879; "Chronic Inversion of the Uterus," 
Transactions, American Gynecological Society, 1879; "Fibrous Tumors of the 
Uterus," American Clinical Lecture. New York, 1S79; "Displacement of the 
Ovaries," Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1SS0: "On the Diagnosis of 
Ovarian Tumor," Ibid., 1880 ; "The Successufl Extirpation of an Encepha- 
loid Kidney," Transactions, American Gynecological Society. 1SS0: "Pelvic 
Abscess," Peoria Medical Monthly, 1880-81; "The History of Gynecology in 
Chicago," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 1881 ; "Annual Address 
of the President," Transactions, American Gynecological Society. 1881 ; 
"Remarks on Chronic Abscess of the Pelvis." Ibid., 1883 : "Remarks on Intra- 
pelvic Inflammation in the Chronic Form,"Jourual American Medical Associa- 
tion, Chicago, 1883; "Doctorate Address, delivered at the Commencement of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 15 

the Woman's Medical College," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 
1884; "Remarks on the Surgical Treatment of the Malignant Diseases of the 
Uterus," Journal American Medical Association, 1884; "A Case of Mural 
Pregnancy," American Journal Obstetrics, 1885; "Extra Uterine Preg- 
nancy," Reference Handbook of Medical Sciences, 1885; "Carcinoma or Can- 
cer of the Uterus," Pepper's System of Practical Medicine, Philadelphia, 
1886; "Fibrous Tumors of the Uterus," Ibid.; "Fatty Tumor of the Supra- 
renal Capsule," Obstetric Gazette, Cincinnati, 1889; "Cysto-fibro-myoma of 
the Uterus," Ibid., 1889; "Ovarian Pregnancy," Ibid., 1889; "Inflammation of 
the Ovaries," Virginia Medical Monthly, Richmond, 1889-90. 



NICHOLAS SENN, M. D. 

Nicholas Senn, of Chicago, was born in Canton St. Gaul, Switzerland, 
October 31, 1844. He came to this country with his parents in 1852, settled 
in Wayne township, Washington county, Wisconsin, and received a grammar 
school education at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. After teaching school for two 
years he began the study of medicine with Dr. E. Munk, of the latter city, in 
1864. He studied also in the Chicago Medical College in 1866, and grad- 
uated in the spring of 1868. After serving for eighteen months as Resident 
Physician to Cook County Hospital, he commenced the practice of medicine 
in Ashford, Wisconsin. In 1869 Dr. Senn married Miss Aurelia S. Muehl- 
hauser. He removed to Milwaukee in 1874, and became Attending Physician 
to the Milwaukee Hospital. In 1877 he visited Europe and attended the 
University of Munich, Germany, and was graduated at that institution in 
1878. After his return to this country he continued his practice in Milwaukee. 
In 1880 he was made Professor of Surgery in the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, Chicago, although retaining his residence in Milwaukee. In 
1 89 1 he was elected to the Chair of Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery 
in Rush Medical College, which he accepted, taking up his residence in Chi- 
cago. Dr. Senn has been president of the American Medical Association and 
the American Surgical Society, was the founder of the Association of Mili- 
tary Surgeons of the United States, and is a member or honorary member of 
numerous other local, national and foreign organizations. 

Dr. Senn first gained his reputation from experimental operations on the 
gastro-intestinal tract of clogs. He introduced the decalcified bone plate for- 
intestinal anastomosis. This method gave a great impetus to the progress of 
intestinal surgery. Later he introduced hydrogen gas to test the permeability 
of the intestinal tract after gunshot injuries of the abdomen. His methods of 



16 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

investigation proved more valuable to the profession than the data discovered. 
His experimental labors and skilled intestinal surgery have gained for him a 
world-wide reputation. More recently he gave to the profession the bone 
ferrule and bone rod which is placed in the marrow cavity of the bone to pro- 
duce fixation of the fractured ends. 

Soon after the inauguration of Governor Altgeld Dr. Senn was appointed 
Surgeon General of the National Guard of Illinois. He is also president of the 
Association of Military Surgeons of the National Guard of the United States, 
and from his address to this organization, delivered at its meeting at St. 
Louis, in April, 1892, we here publish the following extracts: "Every good 
citizen takes a just pride and deep interest in the safety and prosperity of his 
country. His patriotism should bear a direct ratio to the degree of freedom 
and protection he enjoys and the richness of the natural resources within his 
reach. If freedom, protection and prosperity are the elements which are pro- 
ductive of patriotism, every citizen of the United States is, or should be, 
imbued with love and gratitude for his country, and ready to defend it in time 
of danger. It is a great privilege to be a citizen of the greatest country on the 
face of the earth, and to belong to the most powerful and progressive nation 
in the world. Our country has taken a place in the front rank among the rul- 
ing nations. Its brief history is an unbroken record of unparalleled growth 
and prosperity. Its inhabitants, composed of the best elements of most every 
civilized nation, have made good use of the wonderful opportunities presented, 
and have built up cities and industries which have become a source of admira- 
tion and envy everywhere. Since the War of Independence and foundation of 
this great Republic, a little more than a century ago, we have become the lead- 
ing nation, not through the influence of a large standing army, but by develop- 
ing the unlimited resources within our legitimate reach, aided by a wise 
administration of the laws made by the people and for the people. During this 
short period of our existence as a nation we have taken an enviable position 
among the powers of the world, and our beautiful flag, the star-spangled ban- 
ner, is respected and admired wherever it is unfolded. The Stars and Stripes 
are everywhere recognized as a symbol of liberty and equality. The history 
of the War of Independence, and more recently of the War of the Rebellion, 
has proved to the outside world that the American citizen is a born soldier. 
Within a few months during the late conflict, large armies faced each other in 
deadly combat, and on each side a heroism was displayed never excelled 
before. Battles were fought such as the world has never seen before or since. 
The endurance, discipline and courage of our. citizen soldiers have become a 
matter of honorable record, and have never been, and are not likely to be, sur- 
passed by any standing army. Our country came out of this great struggle 
greater than ever. There is no North and no South. The 'Gray and the 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 17 

Blue' celebrate their war experience side by side, and relate their victories and 
defeats without sectional feeling. The star-spangled banner again floats over 
a harmonious and peaceful nation, and is revered and loved as dearly in the 
South as in the North, and should the time come when it is in danger, the 
whole country will rise in its defense. What a happy choice our forefathers 
made when they selected the eagle as the emblem of our country! Like the 
king of the skies, that knows no rival in his sphere, our country has out- 
stripped the Old World in everything that pertains to the welfare of its people. 
The mingling of many nations has produced a race peculiarly well adapted for 
self-government. Our little standing army, composed of less than 25,000 
men, scattered in small detachments over a vast territory, has been seldom 
called into active service, except occasionally to subdue a hostile band of 
Indians on the frontier. Should an emergency arise necessitating military 
interference, either in the defense of our borders or to crush anarchism, our 
standing army would be too small to answer the requirements. Fortunately 
every true American citizen regards himself as a guardian of public peace, 
ready to defend his rights and ever ready to protect the country of his birth 
or adoption. The National Guard of the United States, numbering about 
100,000 citizen soldiers, is a military body of far-reaching influence and great 
power. It is composed of the very best elements of society. It represents 
almost every profession, trade and business interest. It is composed of men 
who, under all circumstances, are loyal to their general and respective State 
governments. It constitutes an efficient police force scattered over this vast 
country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the British possessions to 
the Gulf of Mexico. Should it become necessary to call out the whole force, 
an army of 100,000 men, well equipped and well-drilled, could be concentrated 
in any part of the country, ready for duty, within three to five days. The 
many strikes and riots which have menaced the peace and personal and public 
property for a number of years have shown the necessity of an efficient 
National Guard. Every loyal and peace-loving citizen will consider it a 
privilege to contribute his share toward securing and maintaining such a force. 
Money paid out of the State Treasury for such a purpose is well invested." 
Referring to the means of elevating the standing and usefulness of military 
surgery, Dr. Senn continues : "We live in an age of organization of united 
effort and concentration of work. The unparalleled advances in science, art 
and literature that have characterized the last decade are largely due to 
systematic united work. It is true that a great discovery or an important obser- 
vation comes occasionally like a flash of lightning from a clear sky, the product 
of some fertile brain ; but the greatest advances, requiring thorough scientific 
investigation, have been accomplished by the concerted action of many laboring 
with the same object in view. The- stimulus imparted by the work and success 



18 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

of others is the motive which impels individual effort, and comparison of the 
results realized becomes either a source of gratification or acts like a lash that 
arouses the latent forces to renewed action. In our country nearly every pro- 
fession, trade and business has now its local and national associations. Less 
than a year ago about fifty surgeons of the National Guard, representing 
fifteen States, met in the city of Chicago and organized the Association of 
Military Surgeons of the National Guard of the United States. All present 
were fully impressed with the necessity of such an association, and manifested 
a keen interest in its organization. To-day we have opened our first annual 
meeting in this beautiful city, and have received such a warm welcome on the 
part of the State, the city, the medical profession and citizens as is seldom ex- 
tended to a scientific body. As an association we have not yet reached our first 
birthday, and yet we have attained a membership of over two hundred. A deep 
interest in the welfare and prosperity of our organization has been manifested 
outside of our ranks throughout the United States. The newspapers and 
medical journals have treated us with every mark of courtesy, and have 
brought our good work to the attention of military officers, the public and the 
medical profession. The Government has encouraged us from the very begin- 
ning by detailing for our benefit a number of the oldest and most experienced 
surgeons to attend our meetings. Military surgery is at present in a transi- 
tional stage. Human ingenuity has exerted itself to the utmost during the 
last few years in perfecting cannon, guns, and other implements of destruction. 
The smokeless powder and the small caliber conical bullet, surrounded by a 
steel mantle, have revolutionized modern warfare. Rapid firing and certainty 
of aim at a great distance will make the battles of the future of short duration, 
but the loss of life and the number disabled by wounds will be fearful. The 
bullet wounds that will come under the treatment of the military surgeons of 
the future wars will present entirely different aspect, and will call for different 
treatment, than those inflicted by the old weapons. The modern bullet, by 
virtue of its great penetrating power, will either produce a speedily fatal 
wound, or the injury it produces will be more amenable to successful treatment 
because it produces less contusion of the soft tissues and splintering of bone 
than the heavy bullet used in the past. Burne, Bardeleben and others have 
made careful experimental researches concerning the effect of the new pro- 
jectile, but this subject is not exhausted, and there is plenty of room for 
original work by our members in this department of military surgery. The 
operative treatment of penetrating wounds of the chest and abdomen, on the 
battlefield, offers another inviting field for original investigation. The various 
materials devised for dressing wounds on the battlefield have all their faults 
and merits, but none of them are perfect. The methods of transportation of 
the sick and wounded, the construction of tents and movable barracks, are 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 19 

not closed chapters, and are all susceptible of improvement by original thought 
and investigation. More ingenuity has been displayed of late years in per- 
fecting firearms and in the invention of machines for wholesale destruction of 
life than in devising ways and means in saving the lives of those seriously 
injured. It is our duty as military surgeons to counteract as far, as we can 
the horrors of war by devising life-saving operations, and by protecting the 
injured against dangers incident to traumatic infection. Antiseptic and aseptic 
surgery must be made more simple than they are now in order that we may 
reap from them equal blessings in military as in civil practice. Enough has 
been said to show you that a military association of this kind can become an 
inestimable boon to mankind if some of the members will explore unknown 
regions and bring to light the priceless jewel of original thought and research." 

Dr. Senn was one of ten selected to give an address before the entire 
membership of the Twelfth International Medical Congress which met in 
Moscow in 1897. He was a guest of the Czar, and was invited to lodge in the 
Kremlin during his stay in the city. 

Professor, Senn performed valuable service during the Spanish-American 
war in Cuba. In 1899 he was invited to deliver the "Lane Lectures" in Cooper 
Medical College, San Francisco — the first American so favored. This is con- 
sidered a rare honor and is accompanied by an honorarium of two thousand 
dollars. It is as a surgeon and clinical teacher that he will be long remem- 
bered, and from his surgical and clinical work will come the data most interest- 
ing to the public. Dr. Senn's name and fame taps vast regions for clinical 
material. The most difficult and formidable cases come to his clinic, since 
many of his patients have been filtered through the hands of local physicians, 
who have confessed the case to be beyond their skill. In his surgical clinic 
are exhibited the most desperate cases of carcinoma, sarcoma and tuberculosis, 
collected from wide territory, on which he performs his master operations 
with a boldness based on anatomic and pathologic facts. Professor Senn is 
the most brilliant genius of the able galaxy of surgeons who have filled the 
Rush Surgical Chair. He is a rare combination of the practical worker and the 
theoretic teacher. In vigorous practical application and theoretical views he 
has few equals. He is a man of vast conceptions, grasping the whole domain 
of medicine and surgery with a master hand. Though he may not exhaust 
subjects like the slow, broad analysis of the philosopher, yet his brilliant gener- 
alization of subjects is most attractive. Dr. Senn is an eloquent clinician, an 
impressive teacher and practical, conservative surgeon. He uses stately 
sentences and a Latinized vocabulary requiring a disciplined mind to fully 
comprehend. He excels as a diagnostician, quickly detecting the trend of path- 
ologic processes. His prophecy in prognosis rests on past experiences, as the 
best prophets of the future are those of the past. Though born with superior 



20 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

power, yet he has risen to fame through a genius for labor. Keenly practical, 
naturally suspicious of traditional views, he sought confirmation by experi- 
mentation of natural phenomena. He saw that "To the solid ground of 
Nature trusts the mind that builds for aye." As a skillful operator and 
instructive diagnostician, Dr. Senn holds a magnificent surgical clinic. The 
late distinguished Billroth, the foremost surgeon of the Old World, did not 
present such practical views in so short a time. Billroth was too ponderous 
and slow to enthuse an audience as does Dr. Senn. His life and soul is in his 
clinic, and from the treasury of nature and from the literature of all ages he 
has a mind stored with a wealth of thought. 

Of the able men who have filled the Chair of Surgery in Rush College, 
none have surpassed Dr. Senn in plastic surgery, in which line he is a master. 
The appreciation of his labors by the profession is shown by the continually 
increasing attendance of busy physicians on his clinics. To the majority his 
plastic work is the most popular branch of his surgery. Plastic surgery strikes 
the eye of all observers, and his perfect cosmetic results are a constant source 
of admiration. Professor Senn proceeds on the idea that to do a perfect plastic 
operation requires studied methods, mathematical accuracy and geometrical 
planning. One must learn to estimate curves and squares, and know that, in 
general, squares coapt more perfectly than curves. He knows that plastic 
surgery does not praise itself by deficiency from ulcerations nor by flaws from 
tension necrosis. Perfect coaptation of the outline of flaps requires careful 
planning. 

Dr. Senn possesses a genius in estimating, and accurately coapting, flap 
outlines. He is a thorough believer in autoplastic, in contradistinction to 
heteroplastic, surgery. His phenomenal success in plastic surgery is due not 
merely to the planning and forming of flaps and the most minute attention to 
suturing, but also to his careful selection of tissue on which to plant his flaps, 
and his careful management of blood supply in the pedicles. He does not 
expect a flap to grow well on bony prominences, on the shiny surface of tender 
sheaths, nor on degraded fatty tissue. He makes his flaps uniform in thick- 
ness, procures them with the least trauma, splits subcutaneous tissue in the 
direction of least resistance, drops degraded fat and employs straight rather 
than curved lines. These flaps are procured from any adjacent region which 
will accommodate a pedicle, as on it depends the vitality and life of the flap, 
and it must contain a liberal blood channel and be twisted as little as possible. 
The difficulty in preserving the circulation of large flaps exists chiefly in the 
veins; small arterial channels will vitalize a flap, but it is a great tax on the 
veins to deplete sufficiently its sudden increase of blood. When large flaps 
become blue or cedematous, Dr. Senn relieves the tension by multiple punc- 
tures, whence the transfused serum escapes. Sometimes the flap becomes blue. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 21 

discolored and apparently gangrenous, but in a few days its vitality is estab- 
lished, with only the loss of the superficial layers of the epidermis. In plastic 
surgery an essential feature consists in avoiding tension by liberal flaps and 
ample undermining of adjacent tissue. Where immense trauma is inflicted 
on subcutaneous tissue, as in the neck, by extirpation of tubercular glands, Dr. 
Senn adopts the ingenious method of long, curved, or S-shaped incisions in 
order to avoid remote, irregular cicatricial contractions. The long S-shaped 
incision distributes the subsequent contractions in the scar more uniformly 
over a wider field. The best flap to grow successfully is the skin with its 
subcutaneous tissue. However, Dr. Senn employs flaps containing bone to 
build permanent bridges of tissue, as in the side or septum of the nose, or to 
reform a curved eyebrow. 

It requires considerable experience to form a flap which will subsequently 
naturally adjust itself, as many shrink and continue to shrink for a week. He 
frequently takes grafts or - flaps from the arm or leg. This often incon- 
veniences the patient, yet is accompanied by excellent results. For example, in 
extensive dorsal tuberculosis of the hand, he makes a large flap on the abdomen 
unsevered at both ends and so elevated in the middle that the hand is slipped 
beneath it. The skin and diseased tissue on the dorsum of the hand being 
thoroughly removed, the subcutaneous portion of the abdominal flap is care- 
fully applied over it, sutured in position and the arm fixed with a plaster of 
paris bandage. The growth of the flap is watched for a few days, when he 
begins to cut away gradually each of the attached ends in opposite directions 
so that the establishment of the new circulation will be gradual. Unsevered 
flaps or grafts are more certain to establish vitality and shrink less than severed 
ones. Bone flaps, however, if attached to the soft tissue, as the periosteum, 
will survive with considerable certainty. 

Dr. Senn excels in the managing of flaps, in adjusting the tension while 
stretching or sliding them, in interpolating borrowed adjacent tissue, in trans- 
ferring flaps with safe pedicles and gradually carrying a flap into its final 
position. By a series of movements as sliding, transferring and twisting, he 
utilizes flaps from some distant member, or portion of the body. 

Dr. Senn avoids amputation neuromata by taking out a wedge-shaped 
piece from the nerve, covering up the wound with the sheath of the nerve and 
suturing it in position. In extensive plastic work about the neck, performed 
through the long S-shaped incision, he has demonstrated, as has also Miculkz, 
that removal of a portion of the sterno cleido mastoid muscle does not deprive 
the head of motions which were originally attributed to that muscle. The 
plastic surgery of Dr. Senn is not merely confined to the face and neck, where 
it is most apparent, but with a master skill he extends it to amputation flaps, to 



22 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

tendon sheaths and to joints. Some of the most beautiful and cosmetic results 
observed in his clinic may be noted in the operation of hare-lip. 

The most marked and essential characteristic of mental phenomena is 
memory. Dr. Semi is gifted with a memory of almost mathematical exactness. 
Nature's first and richest blessing to him was his physique, his enormous physi- 
cal capacity for work, a body capable of almost any strain. A large heart 
pumping blood into a big brain, supplied by ample lungs and a healthy stomach, 
unfold a story of continuous capacity for endurance. The peculiar trait of 
Dr. Senn is the genius for persistent, indefatigable labor that unlocks the 
secrets which lie beyond the reach of common energy. His physical power 
of labor enables him to pursue, methodically, subjects beyond the reach of his 
fellows, for though one may be endowed with mental gifts, a physique is 
requisite for continuous thought. Genius is the product of labor, and labor is 
the genius of application. Dr. Senn has followed with wonderful success his 
investigations amidst a laborious and exciting practice. He has experimented 
methodically and investigated with definite plans — all involving work far 
beyond the inclinations of most physicians. His reputation was built in fields 
in which personal labor alone availed, the field of surgical pathology. Most 
men require to accomplish any meritorious object with the microscope abso- 
lutely uninterrupted leisure, but he has been obliged to do his scientific work in 
the midst of an exacting surgical practice. Dr. Senn judiciously avoided 
desultory investigations, the bane of many gifted minds. All practical investi- 
gators recognize that only persistent special labor in special fields is of benefit 
to the race. Dr. Senn has a gift of transmitting enthusiasm for work to his 
fellows, not only by his interesting clinical teachings but by his writings. Few 
can excite such aspirations beyond the reach of their personality. He is 
fortunate to live in an age of practical experiment. Even the laity ask what 
is the practical effect of any new force or remedy. Yet only reasonable investi- 
gations demand attention. 

Dr. Semi's method of teaching is a combination of the practical American 
and analytic German style. He reflects the investigating power of his German 
masters. A large majority of his quotations are from German authors. He 
has a marvelous power of passing rapidly from one patient to another and 
with the enviable power of applying the concrete pathology to the patient in 
hand. In diagnosis he reminds one forcibly that probability is the rule of life, 
and that natural pathologic processes may be sought out. In his surgical 
clinic he has established a magnificent method of instruction, a Socratic style. 
He has a consulting staff of Seniors; each one brings a patient into the arena, 
gives a short clinical history of the patient and a diagnosis of the case. Xow. 
a man's knowledge is apparent from the questions he asks. After the Senior 
has produced his diagnosis. Dr. Senn closely questions his methods and views 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 23 

for the faith that is in him. In these four patients the whole field of medicine 
and surgery may he encompassed, and it proves to be one of the most instruc- 
tive, suggestive clinical hours. It is equal to the clinics of Von Bergmann, 
Czerny, Albert, Nothnagel, Erb, Gusserow, Neisser, Leyden. The diagnosis 
must rest on analysis, on exclusion, on pathologic facts. The methods Dr. 
Senn pursues, especially at the head of one of the largest colleges in the country, 
are of immeasurable value to the profession. His accurate description of 
cases and presentation of microscopical specimens constitute an instructive 
post-graduate course. He can not be in any sense styled a "cutter." He saves 
members and organs that many would sacrifice. He advocates that sweeping 
removal of organs and parts should not be the surgery of to-day and practices 
sharply his views in his clinic. He is influencing surgery in the direction of 
conservatism and leading young surgeons in the right road. Surgery with 
Dr. Senn is to repair, to prolong life and diminish suffering, and not to dem- 
onstrate perfect operations. 

Dr. Senn in his teaching pursues entirely new methods and. assumes new 
ground. With him pathologic anatomy is the essential grounds for operative 
procedures. Bacteriology must be understood. Etiology is prominently dis- 
cussed and Prophylaxis assumes importance. Dr. Senn discusses far more his 
reasons for using the scalpel than how to'employ it. His clinic is unsurpassed 
for learned and brilliant views of medicine and surgery, for acute diagnosis, 
for abundant and varied material, for conservative and radical methods and 
for impressive instruction. 

The Doctor, has made' numerous valuable contributions to medical and 
surgical literature, and his reputation as a writer is no less distinguished than 
that as clinical teacher and operative surgeon. His books entitled "Experi- 
mental Surgery" and "Intestinal Surgery" embody his own views on the 
results of his clinical experience and original investigation. They have met 
with an extensive circulation, and their author is universally regarded as one 
of the most original and advanced workers in the field of surgical progress. 
Of his more recent publications, the one entitled "Senn's Surgical Bacteriol- 
ogy" is worthy of special mention. The book is valuable to the student, but 
its chief value lies in the fact that such a compilation makes it possible for the 
busy practitioner whose time for reading is limited, and whose sources of 
information are often few, to become conversant with the most advancing 
ideas of surgical pathology which have laid the foundation for the wonderful 
achievements of modern surgery. His works on Practical Surgery, Princi- 
ples of Surgery and Pathology and Surgical Treatment of Tumors may be 
found in the office of most of our physicians. In such a sketch as this refer- 
ence should be made to Dr. Senn's recent magnificent gift to his city and pro- 
fession, which consists of his great collection of medical books, donated to the 



24 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Newberry Library, Chicago, the value of which can not be estimated in money, 
for, as Milton says, "A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit, 
embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." Dr. Senn has 
for many years been engaged in gathering this priceless collection of medical 
literature, but for most part the gems of the library were obtained by purchase 
from the estate of Dr. William Baum, Professor of Surgery, University of 
Gottingen. He was one of the founders of the German Congress of Surgeons, 
and for fifty years had been collecting works on anatomy, physiology, sur- 
gery, and the old classical authorities. Having died in 1886, his estate offered 
the library for sale. His wish was that the German Congress of Surgeons 
should purchase the library, but that organization did not see their way clear 
to meet the expenses. The administrator of his estate publicly stated that Pro- 
fessor Baum had spent over forty thousand dollars in its purchase. The 
administrator offered the library to various parties, and the Royal Library of 
Berlin offered an almost fabulous price for a number of antiquarian volumes 
contained in the collection, but the administrator, following the wishes of 
Prof. Baum, refused to separate the books, and announced that it would be 
sold by auction. This coming to the ears of Dr. Senn, he at once secured 
it by making a partial payment, and then withdrew it from sale. The books 
were shipped to Dr. Senn, then in Milwaukee, in fifty-two cases, constituting 
an entire carload. Besides the works on Surgery, Gynecology and Ophthal- 
mology in the Baum library, the collection contains a full set of Yirchow's 
Archives, several single volumes of which are now valued at $5oeach,Langen- 
beck's Archives, Jahresbericht dcr Gesammten Medicin, Cannstatt's Jahres- 
bericht, Praguer Vierteljahreschrift, and the DcutscJicr Chintrgic. The con- 
tinuation of these periodicals from time to time, by the terms of the gift, the 
Newberry Library must hereafter procure as published. To the foregoing 
Dr. Senn has added nearly all the modern works on Surgery, which includes 
Gynecology, and allied branches. He will retain his working library of 
modern works, and a few old favorites to which he is naturally attached. It 
is said that the first thought of this action was suggested by Mrs. Senn. who, 
appreciating the value of the library, pointed out the insecurity of a private 
house from fire and other casualties, and Dr. Senn concluded that he would 
place the collection at the disposal of the profession. There are thousands 
and thousands of pamphlets, ancient and modern, and atlases almost number- 
less. All of these go with the collection; the money value is about fifty 
thousand dollars. No bibliophile can part with his books without regret, and 
yet in this section Prof. Senn has built himself a monument more enduring 
that bronze or, marble, for generations of medical men. long after those now 
on the stage shall have passed away, will draw inspiration and wisdom from 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 25 

the "Senn Collection" in the Newberry Library, and as often with gratitude 
reflect on the noble generosity of its distinguished founder. 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., says of Dr. Senn : "Dr. Nicholas Senn's leading 
professional characteristics are great industry, readiness in original research; 
unusual tact in applying the results to practical purpose, and a liberal contribu- 
tion to medical literature." Dr. Henry M. Lyman adds: "Gifted with re- 
markable physical endurance, Dr. Senn is able to utilize all his other ad- 
vantages to the highest degree." Dr. John Ridlon says: "Dr. Senn is the 
greatest surgeon of the age, and no man can approach him as a teacher because 
of his manner of expression, his intenseness, and his ability to enthuse his 
students." — [Byron Robinson.] 



Dr. Eugene S. Talbot writes : "A visit to the Nicholas Senn room in the 
Newberry Library naturally raises the question, 'How is it possible for one 
individual to write the many volumes of which the original manuscripts are 
seen ?' To answer this question one must know the habits of the man. It was 
my good fortune to make a pilgrimage with Dr. Senn to the Twelfth Inter- 
national Medical Congress, held at Moscow in August, 1897. The three 
months we were together afforded opportunity to study his habits from day to 
day. He was the busiest man I ever saw. When he slept was a mystery to all. 
He was up at four and five o'clock in the morning, visiting hospitals and 
infirmaries, recording his observations late into the night and sending reports 
to the American medical journals. Even upon a trip of pleasure, his method 
of saving the minutes having become a part of his life, he found it difficult to 
give himself up to rest and recreation. A power of concentration and a habit 
of doing those things which may be put to practical use, adding a little each 
hour, each day, each week, has enabled Dr. Senn to do so much. His physical 
endurance is wonderful. His knowledge of pathology and bacteriology has 
revolutionized the methods of surgery. His mental fertility and his ready pen 
have recorded his experiences in such a manner that the student of to-clay and 
the people at large are reaping the benefits of his studious life." 



Dr. S. L. Marston, of Hartford, Wisconsin, who was associated with Dr. 
Senn to some extent during the earlier years of the latter's practice, and 
assisted him in his first operation of any importance, has many interesting 
reminiscences concerning those days, and we excerpt the following : 

"It was in the office of Dr. Munk, in the city of Fond du Lac, that he com- 
menced the study of medicine, and it was while under the Doctor's tuition that 
he first manifested that interest in experimental research that has so largely 
contributed to his fame. It was at this time that he commenced his experi- 
ments with the drug digitalis, administering it to both quadrupeds and bipeds 



26 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

whenever a favorable opportunity offered. I will briefly relate one of these 
experiments, as it will not only illustrate his thoroughness as an investigator, 
but the risk he was willing to incur in gratifying his desire for that knowledge 
which can only be acquired from personal experience. This experiment was 
made upon himself with the tincture of digitalis while visiting his parents 
in the country. He took the drug in such doses as to produce a very decided 
impression upon his circulatory system. This was demonstrated by the record 
of his pulse, which he counted every ten minutes. When it appeared from 
the record that they had become greatly reduced from their normal frequencv 
the family became alarmed, and disregarding his remonstrances sent for a 
physician. The physician, after feeling his pulse and noting the action of his 
heart, informed him as to their then existing characteristics. He hastened 
to make a record of the Doctor's report and to express his gratification that 
this observation of his circulation made at this time, and while he was yet 
under the influence of digitalis, was by a practicing physician — that this fact 
would add greatly to the value of the experiment. The Doctor advised rest in 
the recumbent position and to cease from further experimenting with digitalis. 
He declared it to be an old remedy whose action was well understood, and that 
further experimenting with it he believed to be unnecessary. This advice, how- 
ever well meant, was unheeded by the experimenter, for lie continued his 
experimental researches and studies of the physiological and therapeutic action 
of digitalis during the remaining years of his student life, and until he was 
able to present such an array of facts — the result of his own investigation — 
in a thesis to the Faculty of the Chicago Medical College, as to controvert the 
then generally accepted opinion of the action of the drug. 

"This opinion is very tersely stated in the 13th edition of the United 
States Dispensatory; on page 363 the author says: 'Digitalis diminishes the 
frequency of the pulsation of the heart by a directly depressing power.* And 
again on page 364: 'A peculiarity of digitalis is that after having been given 
in moderate doses for several days without apparent effect, it sometimes acts 
suddenly with an accumulative influence, even endangering life.' For this 
thesis he was awarded a first prize, with the recommendation that it be pub- 
lished in The Chicago Medical Examiner. * * * 

"Soon after completing his term of service in Cook County Hospital Dr. 
Senn located, in the spring of 1869, in the village of Elmore, town of Ashford. 
Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin. This village was but three miles from the 
farm on which the Senn family located upon their arrival as Swiss emigrants 
in America, and where his father, mother, sister, and older brother (Ulrich 
Senn) still resided. Elmore was a small, isolated village; the nearest railroad 
station and market town was the city of Fond du Lac. sixteen miles distant. 
At that time there were no drug stores nearer to him than that 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 27 

city, so that, in common with other country practitioners, he was 
under the necessity of dispensing the medicines he prescribed. To 
meet this condition he had one wing of his house converted into 
an office and pharmacy, but before he was fairly settled his work 
as a general practitioner commenced. His business soon extended 
throughout Ashford and the adjoining towns of Eden, Auburn, and Osceola, 
in Fond du Lac county, Wayne and Kewaskum, in Washington county, 
Mitchell and, Scott, in Sheboygan county, and the town of Lomira, in Dodge 
county. In these towns, as in many other localities throughout the State, the 
practice of medicine and surgery had become very much disarranged, and 
this resulted in a measure from the Civil war and the consequent invasion of 
charlatans. At the beginning and during the war fields of practice were left 
vacant by physicians who had been commissioned medical officers in the army, 
and their work was taken up by new men, of whom many were incompetent. 
A few, however, were meritorious, but most of them had such an aversion to 
operating that they were not inclined to undertake it any further than was 
absolutely necessary in emergency cases. They contended that the remedying of 
deformities, the removal of tumors, etc., by operative procedures, should only 
be undertaken by a few men in the large cities who had acquired the reputa- 
tion of being very skillful surgeons. For various reasons, more especially 
on account of the absence of transportation facilities, an unusual number of 
cases requiring operative procedure had accumulated in the country towns 
during the Civil war period and immediately subsequent thereto. These 
cases appealed to Doctor Senn for relief when he took up the work of a coun- 
try doctor, and he was not inclined to disregard such appeals. At this time, 
however, it was regarded by many as very presumptuous for a young man, 
just commencing the practice of the profession, to undertake capital opera- 
tions; his accurate anatomical knowledge, and other special qualifications for 
beginning the work of an operator, could not be considered — his age was 
against him. This irrational prejudice manifested itself in a very abrupt 
manner in the first case requiring operative procedure which came under his 
observation." 

Dr. Marston here gives a brief history of this case and of another opera- 
tion performed shortly afterward in the face of great prejudice, and, continu- 
ing, says, regarding the last operation : "The outcome of the case was very 
satisfactory to all parties interested, more especially to the patient, who, dis- 
regarding the old proverb, 'Where doctors disagree,' etc., made a good recov- 
ery. This operation, when considered with a final analysis of the vocal 
phenomena that attended it, was far-reaching in its ultimate results. It not 
only gave him [Dr. Senn] the opportunity to assert his individuality and 
demonstrate his ability for surgical work, but to beat out every vestige of that 



28 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

prejudice which had previously existed for reasons that I have heretofore 
stated, from the minds of both physicians and laymen in the locality where he 
then resided. The two well meaning and conscientious physicians whose 
protests and adverse opinions I am making a record of, but without criticism 
(for I have since regarded them from their standpoint as excusable), from 
this time on became his ardent admirers, and so remained until the days of 
their decease. They often called him in consultation, and recommended to him 
all surgical cases of importance that came under their observation. * * * 
The immediate effect was to so enlarge his field of practice as to extend his 
reputation not only throughout the country towns, but to the cities of the State, 
even to Milwaukee, where in 1874 he was tendered the position of surgeon in 
chief of Passavant Hospital. 

He grasped the skirts of happy chance 
And struck the blows of circumstance, 

opportunities for doing which he has apparently never neglected throughout 
the whole of his professional career. Soon after announcing his readiness to 
receive them, calls at his house for advice and treatment became quite numer- 
ous, so much so that from the beginning of the winter of 1870. and for all 
the time subsequent to that date while he remained at Elmore, his office practice 
required his constant attention from 9 a. m. until 12 o'clock noon. At this hour 
he dined. His hour for luncheon was about midnight — occasionally at two or 
three o'clock in the morning, and after returning from making his every day 
trip of many miles to visit patients in the surrounding country. These jour- 
neys were made over rough and hilly roads, not infrequently obstructed with 
snow, and continued to be the routine of his manual labor while he practiced in 
the country. 

"His reading was not neglected, and his literary work, to which I will 
again refer, was mostly done in the night before retiring, and after having 
returned from his daily rounds of visiting his patients. The successful accom- 
plishment of so great an amount of work demonstrated the possession of an 
immense amount of energy and great powers of endurance. In those days 
he never complained of being tired. 

"During the summer and fall months of each year, when his professional 
work would permit, he would occasionally devote a day to recreation. Hunting 
and fishing were favorite pastimes with him. and in company with the writer 
he often ranged through the woods in search of squirrels, and went fishing on 
the small lakes in our immediate vicinity. The Doctor was a good shot with a 
rifle, rarely missing a squirrel's head. He enjoyed the company of medical 
men, and it was a day of recreation for him to be able to attend a society meet- 
ing. He never failed in attendance on meetings of the Wisconsin State 
Medical Society, of which he became a member on the 15th day of June. 1S70. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 29 

and very rarely failed in attendance on the meetings of all local medical socie- 
ties that were held within fifteen or twenty miles of his residence. Neither 
bad roads, rain, snow nor extremely low temperature was regarded by him as 
sufficient excuse for his non-attendance. To gain the necessary time he would 
frequently travel to visit his patients throughout, the night immediately pre- 
ceding and following the day on which the meeting was held. * * * 

"The work of Dr. Serin during the five years he resided in Fond du Lac 
county was that of a remarkably successful general practitioner. As a physi- 
cian he was noted for his accuracy as a diagnostician, and for his success in 
the treatment of disease. As an obstetrician he was skillful, cautious, and 
conservative, but it became apparent as early as 1871 that surgery would 
eventually become a specialty with him, as he was rapidly acquiring the repu- 
tation, with both physicians and laymen, of being an expert in that branch of 
medical science. Many with deformities to be remedied, and others suffering 
from diseases requiring operative procedure, came to him from distant locali- 
ties for treatment, greatly to the surprise of his many friends, most of whom 
had come to believe him to be handicapped by reason of his residing in an 
obscure country village, and that his reputation as a surgeon must necessarily 
continue to be local, and to be confined to the half dozen towns of his field of 
practice. 

"It is true that Roentgen had not as yet discovered and demonstrated the 
penetrating qualities of the rays that bear his name; that the lamp of Edison, 
radiating light from incandescent material, had not then been thought of, never- 
theless they could have learned from history that the light of genius could not 
be hidden under a bushel. 

"With the increase of his practice from year to year his work became 
more and more arduous, but never, however, to such a degree as to interfere 
with its successful performance. As yet no limit had been fixed to his capacity 
for labor; the word fatigue was not in his vocabulary; he had never been 
enabled by personal experience to comprehend its meaning. Apparently he 
was never weary, either physically or mentally. When others would resort 
to rest in the recumbent position and sleep to recuperate their vital forces after 
a day of excessive physical or mental effort, he would resort to his study. The 
demands for his professional services — which were always complied with — did 
not prevent his finding time for study and investigation and other literary 
work. The first three of the many papers read by him before the Wisconsin 
State Medical Society were written while he resided in Elmore, viz. : ' "Ex- 
cision of the Clavicle for Osteo-Sarcoma ;" "Necrosis and its Treatment ;" and 
"Report on the Indigenous Botany of Central Wisconsin." They can be found 
in the published transactions of the Society for the years 1871-72-73. He 
occasionally wrote papers for district and county medical societies. His re- 



3° 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



ports of cases, however, were usually verbal, and articles of his can be found 
in medical journals of the day. 

"In politics Dr. Senn was a Republican, and was very conscientious in 
the discharge of his political obligations. He could not follow a leader unless 
that leader had a firm foothold on terra firma — he must stand on solid ground. 
Personally, he was not altogether devoid of political aspirations, but his only 
ambition in that direction was to become a lawmaker — to be elected to the 
State Legislature, not altogether for personal notoriety — for he was not 
looking for fame in that direction — but that he might the better, aid in securing 
the enactment of such laws as would promote the health, happiness and 
longevity of all the people ; surely such an ambition was laudable, even though 
it was destined to be negatived — to never be attained. Yielding to the impor- 
tunities of local politicians he became the Republican candidate for the 
Assembly in the fall of 1873. The Assembly district at that time was com- 
posed of five towns, all of which had previously given large Democratic ma- 
jorities; in one township, which was densely populated, but few Republican 
votes had ever been cast. He did not hesitate to become a candidate on account 
of the strenuous effort which would be required to overcome these majorities, 
and this he came very near accomplishing — he reversed the majorities in three 
of the towns, and largely reduced them in the other two. But he was not 
elected. The official returns showed that his opponent had received a small 
majority of all the votes cast, and they further showed that the Doctor had 
received by several hundred the largest vote ever cast in the district, prior to 
that election, for any candidate of the Republican party. This was very satis- 
factory to him and reconciled him to his defeat. That fortune which had 
always favored him interposed thus early in his professional career to save him 
from himself — to save him from following that will-o'-the-wisp, political 
preferment. 'There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we 
may.' The foregoing is the only experience in politics that occurred to Dr. 
Senn prior to his taking up his residence in Milwaukee, and I allude to it for 
the purpose of relating the facts as they occurred. This version, to my per- 
sonal knowledge, is absolutely correct. 

"I was intimately associated with Dr. Senn during his five years' resi- 
dence in Elmore, frequently visiting the sick with him. and assisting in most of 
his important operations. I knew him well in his young manhood, and held 
him in high esteem, not only as a physician and surgeon of marked ability. 
but as a man of strict integrity, whose honor and moral character were irre- 
proachable. In his intercourse with physicians he was kind, courteous and 
just, and without that self-conceit which so frequently makes the young 
practitioner disagreeable to his seniors. He respected the opinions of those 
with whom he consulted, and they soon learned to place implicit confidence in 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 31 

him. He found a code of ethics to guide him in his relations with other prac- 
titioners in the Golden Rule, and this code he observed so closely that no one 
ever had occasion to complain of his taking an undue advantage of him. In 
the discharge of his obligations to the sick he was guided by the teaching 
of the Sermon on the Mount. He was the friend of the poor, and he never, 
failed to answer their calls with the same alacrity as the calls of the rich. 
His most zealous friends were among the poor, in fact, they have contributed 
more toward the upbuilding of his fame and reputation than any other class. 
He has often visited them when they were sick without hope of fee, and great 
has been his reward." 



ALEXANDER WOLCOTT, M. D. 

Alexander Wolcott, M. D., was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, 
February 14, 1790, a son of Alexander, Sr., who graduated from Yale in 
1778, and settled at Windsor as an attorney, and his wife, Lucy Walso. 

Dr. Alexander Wolcott graduated at Yale College in 1809, and subse- 
quently studied medicine. He was regularly commissioned Surgeon's Mate 
in the United States Navy in 181 2. 

Dr. Wolcott probably came to Chicago about 1820. He succeeded 
Judge Jowett as Indian Agent in that year, and held the position until his 
death in 1830. After Dr. Wolcott's arrival in Chicago, he finished, and 
resided in, a building commenced during Judge Jowett's incumbency. This 
was the agency house on the north side of the river, near where now is the 
foot of North State street, and which was facetiously called "Cobweb Castle" 
during his residence there as a bachelor; — probably from the noticeable accu- 
mulation of those terrors to good housekeepers during those years. 

On July 20, 1823, Dr. Wolcott was married at the residence of John 
Kinzie, by John Hamlin, J. P., of Fulton county, to Ellen Marion, eldest 
daughter of John and Eleanor Kinzie. In 1820 Dr. Wolcott accompanied 
the expedition under Governor, Cass, from Detroit, through the Upper Lakes 
to the sources of the Mississippi. The party left Detroit on the first of May, 
performed the journey, and returned to Lake Michigan the latter part of 
August. At Green Bay, the party divided, some proceeding to Mackinac, and 
a part, among whom were Governor, Cass, Dr. Wolcott, Major Robert For- 
syth, Lieutenant Mackay, John Kinzie and others, took the old Indian trail to 
Detroit, while Schoolcraft and Captain Douglass took the route by the east- 
ern shore of the lake to Mackinac. Mr. Schoolcraft speaks of Dr. Wolcott as 
a gentleman "commanding respect by his manners, judgment and intelli- 
gence." 



3^ 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



On August 29, 1 82 1, a treaty was concluded with the Indians at Chi- 
cago, which was signed in the presence of Alexander Wolcott, Jr., Indian 
Agent, Jacob R. Varnum, Factor, and John Kinzie, sub-Agent. In May, 
1823, the garrison was withdrawn from Fort Dearborn, and the post and 
property left in charge of Dr. Wolcott, who moved into one of the houses 
erected for officers' quarters, and there resided until the fort was again occu- 
pied by United States troops in August, 1828. He was appointed Justice of 
the Peace for Peoria county, December 26, 1827, and is recorded as judge and 
voter at the special election for justice of the peace and constable, held at the 
house of James Kinzie in the Chicago Precinct, July 24, 1830. 

When the troops arrived to regarrison Fort Dearborn in 1828, Dr. Wol- 
cott and his family returned to their old home in the agency house, where he 
died late in the fall of 1830. By his will dated October 18, 1830, he left all 
his property to his wife Eleanor [See Andreas, Vol. I, Page 90] M. Wolcott 
and his daughter, Mary Ann. The latter died in infancy, and his widow be- 
came his sole surviving heir. The widow of Dr. Wolcott married in 1836, 
Hon. George C. Bates, of Detroit, Michigan, and died in that city August 1, 
i860, leaving a husband and one son, Kinzie Bates, M. S. 

By a stupid act of our local legislators, the name of Wolcott street, 
which served as an historical land-mark of this early resident, was changed to 
North State street. In a personal letter Hon. John Wentworth. of Chicago, 
said that Dr. Wolcott during his life time served in the capacity of an army 
surgeon. It seems, however, tolerably clear, that he performed the duties 
first named, residing as he did, outside of the fort; though it may well be 
believed that there must have been a demand for his professional services 
such as he could not but gratify, and indeed his selection for such a post must 
have resulted in part from his attainments as a physician. 



HENRY M. LYMAN, M. D. 

This eminent Chicago physician, whose fame as a practitioner, lecturer 
and author is co-extensive with the continents, is of English ancestry, and 
fi.rst saw the light in the (then) Kingdom of Hawaii, having been born at 
Hi'lo, November 26, 1835. The Lyman line may be traced, in an unbroken 
line , to the days of the Saxon Harold and the Earl Godwin. The first Ameri- 
can progenitor of the family of whom any authentic record had been preserved 
was named Richard Lyman, whom religious intolerance drove from the land 
of hie. birth in 1632. He crossed the Atlantic from Old to New England 

\ 

V 




£/v/v-ru 



A. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 33 

in the same vessel that carried Lady Winthrop and the Reverend John Eliot,, 
of saintly memory, landing at Charlestown, Massachusetts. 

Dr. Henry M. Lyman received his academic training at the Alma Mater 
of his father, graduating from Williams with the degree of A. B., in 1858, and 
being honored with that of A. M. in 1880. Immediately following his gradu- 
ation from college he began the study of that profession in which each coming 
decade was to crown him with fresh laurels. He matriculated at Harvard 
University Medical College in 1858, but remained a student at that institution 
only one year, completing his three years' course at the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, at New York City, in 1861. He was at once appointed 
House Surgeon at Bellevue Hospital, a position whose arduous duties he 
discharged with distinguished skill and unwearying fidelity until April, 1862, 
when he was appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon in the United States 
army and assigned to duty at Nashville, Tennessee. Ill health necessitated 
his retirement from the service in February, 1863, and in October of that year 
he took up his residence in Chicago and began the practice of his profession. 
In 1867 he was made an Attending Physician in Cook County Hospital, 
remaining on the institution's staff until 1876. He has sustained the same 
relation to the Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago since 1884; and has been 
Consulting Physician to St. Joseph's Hospital since 1890, and to the Hospital 
of Women and Children in that city since 1893. 

It is, however, as a teacher and author that Dr. Lyman has gained his 
most conspicuous success, and made the most durable impression upon the 
generation that has sat under his instruction, witnessed his clinical demonstra- 
tions and profited through the reading and study of his contributions 
to medical literature. His mind is eminently constructive, impelling him to 
suggest and put in operation new agencies of instruction and relief. In 1871 
he was called to the Chair of Chemistry in Rush Medical College, and in 1876 
appointed Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System; the following year 
(1877) he was assigned to the Chair of Physiology and Nervous Diseases, 
which he filled until 1890, and from that year was Professor of Medicine, till 
his health gave way in 1900. In addition to his duties at Rush, Doctor 
Lyman was Professor of Medicine in the Woman's Medical College from 
1880 to 1888. He is a member of several of the most important and best 
known Medical Societies in the country, and his professional brethren have 
repeatedly recognized his high attainments by bestowing upon him high 
honors. In 1876 he was elected President of the Chicago Pathological Society, 
filling the same position in the Association of American Physicians during 
1891-92 and in the American Neurological Association in 1892-93. He is 
also an honored member of the Illinois State Medical Society of Internal 
Medicine. Among his professional colleagues, Doctor Lyman is justly 



34 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

esteemed as a scholar and a Christian gentleman, and such men as Dr. X. S. 
Davis, Sr., Dr. Senn, Dr. Quine, and Dr. John A. Robison have written very 
cordially and appreciatively of his work. 

As an author Dr. Lyman, while not a prolific writer, is at once perspicu- 
ous and profound. While he has treated comparatively few subjects, he has 
touched none which he has not adorned. To deep erudition he has joined a 
diction simple and pure, and his works have easily become recognized author- 
ities on the subjects of which they treat. In addition to various contributions 
to medical journals, Dr. Lyman is the author of "Artificial Anaesthesia and 
Anaesthetics" (Wm. Wood & Co., 1880) ; "Insomnia and Other Disorders of 
Sleep" (W. T. Keener, Chicago, 1886) ; a Text Book on the Theory and 
Practice of Medicine (Lea Brothers & Co.. 1892). He is one of the colla- 
borators of Ashurst's Encyclopedia of Surgery, as well as of the American 
Text Book of Medicine, and of the "Twentieth Century Practice of 
Medicine." 



CHRISTIAN FENGER, M. D. 

Eminent as a pathologist, Dr. Fenger was no less distinguished as a 
surgeon ; endowed with a brain of extraordinary power, he was likewise gifted 
with those magnificent physical powers, which, in union with such mental 
development, make up that high type of man which the ancients were wont to 
describe as mens sana in corpore sano. Nor was his fame as an author and 
instructor less than his celebrity in those other chosen lines of his profession, 
which were near to his heart. In corroboration of this statement may be 
quoted these words of the great surgeon. Dr. Nicholas Senn. '"Dr. Fenger is 
one of the best pathologists in the country, while as a surgeon, student, writer 
and teacher, he has no superiors." 

Dr. Fenger's life was one of tireless activity, while at the same time not 
devoid of either change or adventure. Born in Copenhagen. Denmark, and 
graduated from the University in that city, in 1867. at the age of twenty- 
seven, he soon came into prominence, filling various posts in the hospitals 
with distinguished ability, and being made a lecturer on Pathologic Anatomy 
in his Alma Mater. He was assistant to Wilhelm Mayer in his Ear Clinic for 
two years, and an interne in the Ffiedrichs Hospital, Copenhagen, for two 
years. In 1875 he went to Egypt, where he entered the service of the Khe- 
dive, but finding the climatic influences unfavorable to his health, remained 
in that country only two years. In 1877 ne came to America, and at once 
established himself in Chicago. 

To the profession in the Northwest two decades ago. Pathology was a 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 35 

terra incognita, and Dr. Fenger was a pioneer in the demonstration of its 
principles, and the exploiting of its utility in this great and constantly widen- 
ing field. As regards the influence of his exploitation, it is not too much to 
say that progressive and thoughtful students have followed his lead for many 
years. 

His career, after making Chicago his home, was one of steady success. 
His teaching found deep root, and his experimental demonstrations at once 
challenged criticism and commanded conviction. Indeed, the results could 
scarce have been otherwise, since he brought to his aid deep study, profound 
research, tireless energy and forceful personality. 

To emote the words of that ripe scholar and successful surgeon, Dr. J. 
B. Murphy, "Dr. Fenger has the true love for scientific knowledge — it domi- 
nates every other faculty in his life. A new anatomic or physiologic discov- 
ery elicits enthusiasm, electrifying to behold. A newly demonstrated patholo- 
gic observation produces ecstasy. It is this enthusiasm, with his master mind, 
that has made him the apocalypt of surgical pathology in this western world." 

Dr. Fenger was a skilled microscopist, and as a surgical diagnostician 
he had, perhaps, few equals in this or any other land. His mind, like that of 
Virchow, was intensely analytic, and was quick to perceive the relations of 
facts, and there was, perhaps, no surgeon in America more sought for ulti- 
mate diagnosis than he. Yet, like all men truly great, he was ever open to 
conviction, and no one was more ready to accept the demonstration of new 
truths. In other words, while conservative, he was progressive. The Nestor 
of the American medical profession, Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., well described him 
as "a man of genuine erudition, very minutely posted in the department of 
surgical pathology, skillful in operative surgery, a teacher of high reputation 
in both, and an honorable, high-minded citizen." To which panegyric Prof. 
Henry M. Lyman adds : "Dr. Fenger is the pioneer of modern surgical 
methods in Chicago. Fie is probably the most learned surgeon in this city, 
and is as modest as, he is wise." 

Dr. Fenger was the first surgeon in Chicago to perform vaginal hysterec- 
tomy, and one of the first to explore the brain with an aspirating needle 
(1884), which he introduced through the cerebral meninges, aspirating the 
various ventricles without withdrawing it. In many surgical procedures he 
was a pioneer, and of not a few an originator. He was notably successful in 
lung surgery for abscess and gangrene, and was one of the few, who, prior 
to 1894, removed an intramedullary tumor from the spinal cord. He also did 
much, and most valuable, pioneer work on strictures and valves of the ureters, 
as well as on the prostate gland. It was he, also, who demonstrated the ball- 
valve action caused by gall stones in the common duct, while his operation for 
harelip has commanded universal admiration. He was also the first who, when 



36 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

about to perform nephrectomy, cut down on the healthy kidney first in order 
to leave one able to sustain life (1890). 

As an instructor he had no superior and few peers. His methods were at 
once didactic and argumentative. He arrested and enthralled the attentive 
interest of his classes, and to attend one of his clinics approached in itself a 
pathologic revelation, and he made hosts of careful, investigating stu- 
dents. His chair at Rush Medical College was one of the most ably filled in 
that great school. 

Yet notwithstanding his rare endowments and high attainments one of 
Dr. Fenger's most distinguishing traits was his modesty. His personal wants 
were few, his tastes simple, and his mode of life unostentatious. For society 
in the sense in which that oft misapplied term is used, he cared little, but his 
personal friends, whom he admitted to intercourse with him in his library, 
he esteemed highly. He was, however, much given to self-communing and 
hard private study. He seemed capable of performing a limitless quantity of 
work, and his example, no less than his writings, has been to the profession 
a powerful incentive to research. He died at 9:45 p. m., March 7, 1902, 
at his home in Chicago, after an illness of one week. The cause of his death 
was croupous pneumonia. True to his principles that he had so often taught, 
he requested, when he knew that he might die, that a postmortem examination 
be made. This request was complied with. In addition to the pneumonia, 
which involved the upper, and middle lobes of the right lung, there were 
found an obliterating, healed tubercular pleuritis with calcareous bronchial 
glands, and three gallstones in the gall-bladder. A few months before his 
death, Dr. Fenger had had a slight attack of what he himself recognized as 
gallstone colic. 

The funeral services were held at the New England Congregational 
Church, of which Dr. Fenger had for ten years been a member, the pastor. 
Rev. W. Douglas Mackenzie, officiating. The interment was at Rosehill 
Cemetery. 

In writing of him Dr. Frank Billings says : "Dr. Fenger has done more 
for medicine and surgery in Chicago and the Northwest than any other man. 
For more than twenty years has he lived in Chicago, and has by word and act 
taught and encouraged the younger medical men to study scientifically at 
home, and to go abroad for a more extended study. His wonderful knowl- 
edge of pathology, of surgery and of medicine has always won the respectful 
admiration of all medical men. His modest, diffident, unassuming manner 
and his simple life have endeared him to all who were fortunate enough to be 
called his friend." 

From the obituary notice in the Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, written by two of his closest associates, the following paragraphs are 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 37 

taken : "His work as a writer is solid, and will stand the closest criticism. 
Much of it is for all time. There is nothing that he has written, at least noth- 
ing with which we are familiar, that does not contain something of value, 
valuable at least for the time at which it was produced ; some common error 
is corrected, some old truth presented in a new light, or some new discovery 
given to the medical world. 

"As a speaker he lacked fluency. His hesitating speech made it at first 
difficult to follow him. Yet he never lacked an audience at clinic, ward opera- 
tion, or at discussion in a medical society. And it is true that, to a certain 
extent, one could judge of the caliber of a man by finding out that man's esti- 
mate of Dr. Fenger as a speaker or clinical teacher. The best men listened 
respectfully as to a master; the poor or mediocre man became impatient, 
criticised, and was happy in his ignorance. 

"Fenger was the incarnation of the scientific spirit in surgery. Men 
about him saw this, they felt it; he imparted this spirit to them. Herein lay 
one of the elements that made him strong and a man of influence. Coming to 
Chicago as he did, twenty-five years ago, at a time when the new light of 
modern pathology had not yet broken upon the Northwest, he began his 
mission of imparting the truths of this recreated science. Against much oppo- 
sition, in spite of many drawbacks, he fought his way. Others began to see 
the light that he had seen and were eager to learn of him. To hospital 
internes, to medical students, to doctors, to any one who showed a desire to 
learn and a willingness to study, he was glad to talk of things surgical and 
pathological. He sacrificed leisure and pleasure that he might help them. 

"The value of this work is incalculable, and only appreciated by those 
who know the conditions existing twenty-five years ago and the difficulties 
he encountered in his endeavors to spread the new knowledge. This is really 
Fenger's great work. He is revered as the father of scientific surgery in 
the Northwest, and with Senn in experimental work aroused this section of 
the country so that now there has grown up a group of well-known younger 
men, who freely acknowledge that the right impetus to study was given them 
by this remarkable man. When the intellectual history of Chicago comes to 
be written, high among the great names will be that of Christian Fenger. 

"It is a cause for congratulation that Dr. Fenger's friends and admirers 
let him and the world know of the esteem and love in which he was held. 
His colleagues among the Scandinavian colony in Chicago looked up to him 
as their honored leader, were proud of him and at every meeting of their 
medical society, whether he were present or not, drank the health of Christian 
Fenger. At the time of his death he was the president of the Chicago Medical 
Society, and for the second time of the Chicago Surgical Society. On No- 
vember 3, 1900, the medical profession of the country gave him a dinner, the 



3 8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

occasion being the sixtieth anniversary of his birth. Over five hundred physi- 
cians attended. This honor was deeply appreciated by Dr. Fenger. But no 
testimonial, no office of honor, was a more eloquent tribute to this man's char- 
acter than the gathering at the funeral services. It is doubtful if so great a 
number of physicians have ever before come together in Chicago for such a 
purpose. The sad faces of his colleagues, and the tear-dimmed eyes of the 
long line of men and women, many of them his old patients and evidently from 
the poorer walks of life, as they took a last look at this beloved physician, 
spoke more than any uttered word. 

"It seemed as though he had several years of usefulness and happiness 
before him. But perhaps it is best that he should be cut down in the midst 
of his active work, with his mind still strong and vigorous, his eye undimmed, 
his hand steady, rather than that ruthless old age should rob him of any of 
those attributes with which we link his name. His work was in reality done. 
His monument is already erected in his medical writings, in the group 
of men whom he influenced and aroused to a higher scientific iife. in the 
elevation of medical thought in the Northwest, in the example of an untiring 
devotion to truth, in the love that is left in the hearts of all who knew him."' 

A list of Dr. Fenger's best known works (some of which have been 
prepared in collaboration with others) is appended: 

"Om Endoscopic af Urethra," Hospitals Tidende, 14 Aargang. S. 25 
1870; "Ueber Endoskopie der Schusswunden," Wiener medicinische Woch- 
cnschrift, 1871, No. 25; "Beretning om 422 Sektioner. Foretagne i Kom- 
munehospitalet i Kobenhaven i Tidsrummet fra i September, 1871. til i Sep- 
tember, 1872," 44pp. 8vo., Nordiskt Medicinisk Arkiv, 1872; "Om den lokale 
Behandling af den kroniske Gonorre og den gonorroiske Revmatisme ved 
Hjalp af Endoskopet," 22pp. 1 pi. 8vo., Xordiskt Medicinisk Arkiv. Vol. 
IV, No. 27, 1872; "Om den partielle Hydronefrose. oplyst ved et Sydomstil- 
falde," 12pp., 8vo., Nordiskt Medicinisk Arkiv, Vol. IV, 1872: "Stenose af 
ostium pulmonale og arteria pulmonalis. forarsaget ved Vegetationer pa Pul- 
monalklapperne og i Arterior, oplyst ved et Sygdomstilfalde," 1 8pp. 1 pi. 
8vo., Xordiskt Medicinisk Arkiv, Stockholm. 1873. Vol. V; "Om Maver- 
kraeft, navnlig i Henseende til Bygning, Udvikling og Udbredning" (Cancer 
of the stomach, development and diffusion). 2pl. 146pp. 8vo., Kjobenhavn. 
W. Prior, 1874; "Report on Epizootic of Horses to Sanitary Council of 
Egypt," 1876. In collaboration with J. H. Salisbury — "Diffuse Multiple Ca- 
pillary Fatembolism of the Lungs and Brain, as Fatal Complication in Com- 
mon Fractures, Illustrated by a Case," Chicago Medical Journal and Exam- 
iner, 1879, XXXIX. 587-595. The following in collaboration with F. \Y. 
Lee — "Ruptures of the Subpubic Portion of the Urethra." Chicago Medical 
Gazette, 1880, I, 63-68; "Tuberculosis of Joints," Chicago Medical Journal 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 39 

and Examiner,- 1880, XL, 465-491 ; "Tuberculosis of Joints, with Three 
Cases of Excision," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 1880, XLI, 
7-34; "Tracheotomy in Croup and Diphtheria, with Cases," Chicago Medical 
Journal and Examiner, 1880, XLI, 337-347 (read before the Illinois State 
Medical Society). In collaboration with A. Hinde — "The Endoscope in the 
Local Treatment of Chronic Gonorrhoea, or Gleet and Gonorrhoeal Rheu- 
matism," Chicago Medical Review, 1880, II, 536-546. "Trichinosis, Report 
of Two Cases," Chicago Medical Reviezv, 1881, III, 208-212; "Perforation, 
without Fracture, of the Femur, by a Thirty-two Caliber Ball; the Femoral 
Vein Ligatured," Hospital Clinic — Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 

1 881, XLII, 495; "Removal of Loose Cartilage from the Knee-joint, and 
Use of Absorbable Drainage-tubes," Hospital Clinic — Chicago Medical Jour- 
nal and Examiner, 1881, XLII, 494. In collaboration with E. W. Lee — 
"Nerve-stretching; Illustrated by Cases from the Hospital Service and Pri- 
vate Practice," Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, N. Y., 1881, N. S., 
VI, 263-304. In collaboration with J. H. Hollister — "Opening and Drainage 
of Cavities in the Lungs," American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Phila- 
delphia, 1 881, N. S., LXXXII, 370-392. In collaboration with E. \Y. Lee — 
"Opening and Drainage of Large Joints in Suppurative Synovitis, Illustrated 
by Cases," Gaillard's Medical Journal, N. Y., 1882, XXXIII, 201-210. "Su- 
pra-malleolar Osteotomy for Outward Deviation of the Foot, Subsequent to 
Pott's Fracture Healed up in a Bad Position," Medical News, Philadelphia, 

1882, XL, 398-427. In collaboration with E. W. Lee — "Six Cases of Aneur- 
ism," Gaillard's Medical Journal, N. Y., 1882, XXIV, 1-17. "The Thor- 
acoplasty Operation of Estlander; Multiple and Extensive Resection of the 
Ribs over Old and Intractable Empyema Cavities, as a Means to Effect their 
Closure," Medical News, Philadelphia, 1882, XLI, 337-343; "Report of a 
Case of Penetrating Wound of the Abdomen and Small Intestine," Clinical 
Lecture — Chicago Medical Reviezv, 1882, V, 11-14; "The Total Extirpation 
of the Uterus through the Vagina," American Journal of the Medical 
Sciences, Philadelphia, 1882, N. S., LXXXIII, 17-47; "Supposed Poisoning 
by Bromide of Potassium; an Autopsy Lecture," Chicago Medical Review, 
1882, V, 40-43; "Venous Angioma of the Face; Report of a Case," Chicago 
Medical Reviezv, 1882, V, 161. In collaboration with E. W. Lee — "On 
Opening and Drainage of Abscess Cavities in the Brain ; Illustrated by a 
Case," American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, 1884, N. S., 

■LXXXVIII, 17-30. "On Surgical Treatment of Gangrene of the Lungs," 
Journal of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1884, III, 62-68; 
"Remarks on the Operation of Excision of Hip and Knee-joints," Chicago 
Medical Journal and Examiner, 1884, XLI, 289-320; "Excision of Hip and 
Knee-joints, with Exhibition of Patients," Transactions, Illinois Medical So- 



4 o 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



ciety, Chicago, 1884, XXXIV, 330-357; "Chronic Peri-uterine Abscess and 
its Treatment by Laparotomy," Annals of Surgery, St. Louis, 1885, I, 393- 
423 ; "Report to the Gynecological Society of Chicago on two cases of 
Extrauterine Pregnancy from Examination of the Specimens," Chicago Med- 
ical Journal and Examiner, 1885, I, 211-226; "Remarks on Laparotomy as 
Compared with Other Operations," Chicago Gynecological Society — Amer- 
ican Journal of Obstetrics, New York, 1886, XIX, 428-432. In collaboration 
with B. Holmes — "Antisepsis in Abdominal Operations ; Synopsis of a Series 
of Bacteriological Studies," Journal of the American Medical Association, 
Chicago, 1887, IX, 444-470. "A New Kolpoplastic Operation for Atresia or 
Defect of the Vagina," Transactions, American Surgical Association, Phila- 
delphia, 1887, V, 275-383; "The Osteoplastic Resection of the Foot, as De- 
vised by Wladimiroff and Miculicz," Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, Chicago, 1887, VIII, 113-121; "Vertebral Arterial Ligation in Ver- 
tebral Aneurism," Medical Standard, Chicago, 1887, I, 33-35; "Remarks on 
Dermoid Cysts of the Ovary, with Illustrations from Specimens," Chicago 
Medical Journal and Examiner, 1887, IV, 381-387; "The Operative Treat- 
ment of Retroperitoneal Cysts in Connection with Miculicz's Method of 
Drainage," Chicago Gynecological Society — Journal of the American Med- 
ical Association, Chicago, 1887, VIII, 568-571; "Vaginal Hysterectomy; the 
Actual Status of the Operation and Report of Four Cases," Chicago Medical 
Journal and Examiner, 1887, LV, 367-379; "Living and Dead Osteomas of 
the Nasal and its Accessory Cavities; Illustrated by a Case of Encysted 
Orbital Osteoma Originating in the Ethmoid Bone. Presentation of Speci- 
mens," Journal of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1888, XI, 
185-190; "Fibro-cysto-sarcoma of the Uterus (removal by Laparotomy)." 
Chicago Gynecological Society — Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
tion, Chicago, 1888, XI, 1604-6; "Colloid Carcinoma of the Caecum." Jour- 
nal of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1888, XI, 606; "Double 
Carcinoma of the Colon," Ibid., 606; "A Case of Traumatic Cyst of the Pan- 
creas. Reported by A. Holmbo," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 

1888, LVI, 74-77; "Extirpation of the Rectum," Medical Standard, Chicago, 

1889, VI, 1-3; "Primary Carcinoma of the Kidney," Journal of the American 
Medical Association, Chicago, 1889, XII, 903-905; "Renal Calculus," Ibid., 
905; "Tuberculosis of Bones and Joints," Journal of the American Medical 
Association, Chicago, 1889, XIII, 587-596; "Carcinoma of the Cervical Re- 
gion ; Operation ; Two Secondary Hemorrhages ; Recovery." Surgical Clinic. 
College of Physicians and Surgeons ; "Excision of the Head of the Humerus 
for Old Dislocation," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 1889. LVIII. 
95; "Rupture of the Kidney," Journal of the American Medical Association, 
Chicago, 1889, XI, 901-903; "Operative Treatment of Carcinoma of the 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 41 

Rectum," Medical and Surgical Reporter, Philadelphia, 1890, LXIII, 311- 
313; "Ovariotomy during Pregnancy," American Journal of Obstetrics, New 
York, 1891, XXIV, 1097-1107; "A Case of Elephantiasis of the Scrotum; 
with Remarks on its Operative Treatment," American Journal of the Medical 
Sciences, Philadelphia, October, 1891, N. S., CII, 352-361; "The Operative 
Treatment of Extrauterine Pregnancy at or near Term, with Report of a 
Case," read before the Illinois State Medical Society, May 20, 1891 — Journal 
of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1891, XVI, 879-885; "A 
New Operation for Hare-lip," read before the American Medical Association, 
1891 — Journal of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1891, XVII, 
176-180; "The Vaginal Operation in Extrauterine Pregnancy," American 
Journal Obstetrics, New York, 1891, XXIV, 418; "Oxalate Calculus in Pel- 
vis of Left Kidney," Chicago Clinical Review, 1892-3, I, 276-381 ; "Remarks 
on Appendicitis," American Journal of Obstetrics, New York, 1893, XXVIII, 
166-199; "Total Extirpation of the Vagina for Carcinoma," American Jour- 
nal of Obstetrics, New York, 1893, XXXII, 218-234; "Demonstration of 
Specimens from Operations on the Kidney," Chicago Medical Recorder, 
1893, IV, 155-170; "On Hyperplastic Salpingitis and its Operative Treat- 
ment by Drainage," read before the International Gynecological Congress, 
Brussels, 1892 — Medical Record, June 3, 1893-1894; "Surgery of the Ure- 
ter," Annals of Surgery, Philadelphia, August, 1894, and read before the 
American Surgical Association, 1894; "Operation for the Relief of Valve- 
formation and Stricture of the Ureter in Hydro or Pyo-Nephrosis," Journal 
of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1894, XXII, 335-343; "Be- 
nignant Tumors of the Ileum," Chicago Clinical Reviezu, December, 1894; 
"Basal Hernias of the Brain," American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 
January, 1895; "Conservative Operative Treatment of Sacculated Kidney — 
Cystonephrosis," Annals of Surgery, June, 1896; "Stones in the Common 
Duct and Their Surgical Treatment, with Remarks on the Ball-valve Action 
of Floating Choledochus Stones," American Journal of Medical Sciences, 
February and March, 1896; "An Operation for Valvular Stricture of the 
Ureter," American Journal of the Medical Sciences, December, 1896; "Reten- 
tion from Displacement, Bending and Valve-formation (oblique insertion) in 
the biliary tract," Medical Standard, November, December and January, 
1897. In collaboration with William Hessert — "A Case of Fatal Acute Dila- 
tation of the Stomach following Cholecystotomy," Clinical Reviezu (Chicago), 
February, 1898, Vol. VII, No. 5, pp. 261-284. "Remarks on Surgery of the 
Bile Ducts," Chicago Medical Recorder, April, 1898. In collaboration with S. 
C. Stanton — "Diseases of the Ureter," An American Text-Book of Genito- 
urinary Diseases, Syphilis and Diseases of the Skin, 1898, pp. 470-542. "En- 
tero-Plastic Operation to Overcome or Prevent Stenosis, with Special Refer- 



42 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

ence to the Spur in Preternatural Anus," American Journal of the Medical 
Sciences, April, 1899; "Eversion or Turning Inside-Out of the Sac of a 
Cystonephrosis as an Aid in Operating upon the Renal End of the Ureter, and 
upon the Partition Walls Between Dilated Calices," American Journal of 
Medical Sciences, July, 1899; "Diseases of the Kidney, Amenable to Surgical 
Treatment," Dominion Medical Monthly and Ontario Medical Journal, Vol. 
XIII, No. 5, 1899; and "Surgery of the Kidney." International Text-Book 
of Surgery, 1900, Vol. 11, pp. 575-609. 



ELIJAH D. HARMON, M. D. 

Elijah D. Harmon, M. D., of Chicago, Illinois, was born in Bennington, 
Vermont, August 20, 1782, and died in the former city in 1869. He com- 
menced the practice of medicine in Burlington, Vermont, in 1806, and was a 
volunteer surgeon on board the "Saratoga," commanded by Commodore Mc- 
Donough, during the celebrated naval battle near Plattsburg, September 11, 
1814. After the close of the war of 1812, he returned to resume his practice 
in Burlington. In 1808 he was married to Miss Welthyan Loomis. 

In 1829, Dr. Harmon determined to seek a new home in the West, and 
arrived at Fort Dearborn in May, 1830, and in the absence of Assistant Sur- 
geon Finley he served as medical officer of the garrison, and also attended to 
private practice. His family followed him the next year, and took up then- 
residence in a cabin of hewn logs. 

On July 10, 1832, a detachment of United States troops, designed to 
operate against the hostile tribes of Indians, arrived under the command of 
General Scott on board the steamer "Sheldon Thompson." Unfortunately 
epidemic cholera had manifested itself among the soldiers the day previous to 
the arrival of the steamer, and was rapidly spreading. The two companies of 
soldiers previously occupying the fort were isolated as far as practicable, and 
remained under the care of Dr. Harmon. The disease, however, spread so 
rapidly among the newly arrived troops that Fort Dearborn speedily became a 
crowded hospital for the sick and dying, under the superintendency of Dr. De 
Camp, Assistant Surgeon, previously on duty at Madison Barracks. He had 
been assigned duty at Fort Dearborn by official order dated February 23. 
1832, and he arrived at the fort with Companies G and I. of the Second Infan- 
try, under the command of Major William Whistler. June 17. 1832. only 
twenty-three days before the arrival of the troops of General Scott, affected 
with cholera. 

On the arrival of the latter, the two companies under Major Whistler, 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 43 

were sent into camp two miles distant, for isolation from the cholera infection, 
and, as already stated, placed under the medical charge of Dr. Harmon, while 
Assistant Surgeons De Camp and Malcomb devoted their attention most faith- 
fully to the newly arrived suffering troops in the fort. In one of his reports. 
Dr. De Camp states that within one week after their arrival, one-fifth of the 
whole force of one thousand men were admitted into the fort afflicted with 
the scourge. The epidemic, though severe, was of short duration, and the 
military forces in a few weeks resumed their campaign against the Indians, 
and Dr. De Camp left the fort during the following November. 

During the latter part of June and the first days of July, 1832, the hos- 
tile attitude of the Indians, led by Black Hawk, had caused many of the white 
settlers in Northern Illinois and Indiana to gather at Fort Dearborn for 
safety. But when it was known that the soldiers under General Scott had 
brought the epidemic cholera with them, not even the dread of the Indian tom- 
ahawk could deter them from fleeing from the scourge with the utmost pre- 
cipitancy. The few civilians who were obliged to remain found in Dr. Har- 
mon a faithful physician and friend, for he extended his services to soldiers 
and citizens alike. He was the first medical man who had settled at the post 
to practice his profession without a government appointment, and he appears 
to have been fairly successful. In the winter of 1832, he performed the first 
important surgical operation at what is now the city of Chicago, of which 
there is any record. It consisted in the successful amputation of one foot and 
the part of the other, for a half-breed Canadian, whose feet had been frozen 
while carrying the mail on horseback from Green Bay to Chicago. Accord- 
ing to a recent medical history of that city written by Dr. N. S. Davis, from 
which this sketch is mainly derived, we find that after the departure of Assist- 
ant Surgeon De Camp he was succeeded by Assistant Surgeon Philip Max- 
well, who arrived at the fort February 3, 1833, and entered upon the perform- 
ance of his duties. During the year 1832 Drs. Valentine A. Boyer, Edward 
S. Kimberly and John T. Temple became residents of Chicago, and these 
with Dr. Harmon and Assistant Surgeon Maxwell, constituted the medical 
fraternity of Chicago at the time it became a corporated town, in August, 
1833, with a total population of between one hundred and fifty and two hun- 
dred. Dr. Boyer, the last of these five pioneer physicians, remained a resi- 
dent of Chicago nearly sixty years. 

Besides his family residence, Dr. Harmon pre-empted one hundred and 
forty acres of land, located in what is now a central part of the south division 
of the metropolis, and one of the streets is still called Harmon Court in his 
honor. In 1834 he migrated to the State of Texas, and subsequently divided 
his time between that State and Chicago until his death. 



44 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

JOHN BARTLETT, M. D. 

Dr. John Bartlett, the well-known obstetrician of Chicago, who has de- 
voted a lifetime to the advancement of science, to the intelligent treatment of 
disease, and to the elevation of the medical profession, was born at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, in 1829, a son of George F. and Martha M. (Rogers) Bart- 
lett, formerly of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and a grandson of Dr. Josiah 
Bartlett, of Charlestown. 

Nurtured in an atmosphere of books, John Bartlett early became a stu- 
dent. His education was obtained in public and private schools in Louisville, 
and by a wide range of select reading. Early dedicated to the study of 
medicine by his family as the grandson of the eminent citizen and able prac- 
titioner of Charlestown, Massachusetts, Dr. Josiah Bartlett, young Bartlett be- 
gan his professional education in 1846, under Dr. Llewellyn Powell, Pro- 
fessor of Obstetrics, and then matriculated at the University of Louis- 
ville, graduating from the Medical Department of that then famous school 
in 1850. During his entire course of study he had been interested in Obstet- 
rics, and along that line he had made special investigation, and by the time 
he received his degree of M. D. had made for himself a name among his 
fellow students and instructors because of his familiarity with that most in- 
teresting subject. His life has been devoted to his profession, and he has 
been connected at various times with hospitals in Louisville and Chicago as 
Consulting Physician or Obstetrician. In 1862 he came to Chicago, where he 
has since engaged in general practice. Since the great fire in 1871 he has 
been located on the North Side. 

An intelligent thinker, a sagacious reasoner, an untiring student and a 
careful investigator, Dr. Bartlett's place in the medical world has been unques- 
tioned. Too broad for the petty jealousy that so often mars the professional 
careers of many men, he has welcomed and assisted the less fortunate over the 
thorny path to success, and in the benign charity of his gentle life has inspired 
the deeper love and reverence of his associates. Dignified in his bearing, he 
commands respect of strangers, yet so simple is his manner that be is easily 
approached. He has been president of the Chicago Society of Physicians and 
Surgeons, and of the Chicago Gynecological Society. 

The literature of the profession has been enhanced by many papers from 
the pen of Dr. Bartlett. Among the more important of these may be named : 
"A Review of Pasteur's Book on the Silkworm Epidemic Pebrine. with Reflec- 
tions on the Analogy of the Disorder to Certain Diseases of the Human Sub- 
ject," Chicago Medical Society, November, 1876; "The Cervix L T teri, Before, 
During and After Labor," Chicago Society of Physicians and Surgeons. July, 
1873; "The True Site and Probable Causes of Placenta Praevia," Chicago 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 



45 



Society of Physicians and Surgeons, December, 1875; "A New Method of 
Treatment of Placenta Prsevia," Chicago Medical Society, Decem- 
ber, 1878; "Artificial Placental Respiration," Chicago Society of 
Physicians and Surgeons, November, 1872; "A Consideration of 
Some of the Errors Incident to the Ordinary Methods of Determin- 
ing the Relative Lengths of the Lower Extremities," Chicago Medical So- 
ciety, March, 1878; "A Theory of the Cholera," read before the Chicago 
Medical Society, August, 1884; "Proposed Modification of Porro's Opera- 
tion," Chicago Gynecological Society, June, 1886; "A Case of Placenta 
Prsevia, in which the Placenta was Expanded over the Entire Ovum," Chi- 
cago Gynecological Society, June, 1886; "A Study of Daventer's Method of 
Delivering the After Coming Head," International Medical Congress, Wash- 
ington, 1887; "Observations on Intubation, by a General Practitioner," 
'Chicago Clinical Review, January to June, 1895; "The Vectis," Clinical Re- 
view, November, 1900; "Paul Portal, his True Place in the Literature of 
Placenta Prsevia," Clinical Review, July, 1901. 

Of Dr. Bartlett, Dr. Henry T. Byford writes : "Dr. John Bartlett never 
sought public positions, but he is nevertheless one of the most scholarly and 
scientific practitioners Chicago has produced. His writings are numerous, 
and constitute proofs of his extended knowledge and great practical attain- 
ment in obstetrics. He figured prominently in the early proceedings of the 
Chicago Gynecological Society, and his work forms a creditable part of the 
Obstetric History of Chicago." 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., writes : "Dr. John Bartlett is one of the older and 
most honorable practitioners of medicine still living in Chicago. He is an 
excellent example of the enlightened, dignified, and thoroughly rational gen- 
eral practitioner of medicine. Many years since, when the attention of the 
profession had been directed to fungi on living vegetable growths as the cause 
of malarious fevers, Dr. Bartlett devoted considerable time in original investi- 
gations relating to that subject. He has been throughout his professional 
career an industrious student, an active and honorable member of the local, 
State and National Medical Societies, and is still Consulting Obstetrician to 
three or four of the public hospitals in the city." 



46 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

De LASKIE MILLER, A. M., M. D., Ph. D. 

The long life of this distinguished member of the profession was one 
alike of activity and success. When he passed away, in July, 1903, at the ven- 
erable age of eighty-five years, he was spending his declining years in rest, 
peaceful, richly earned and well merited. Apropos of his retirement from act- 
ive professional work, his eminent colleague in the profession, Dr. N. S. 
Davis, Sr., had this to say : "Dr. Miller, now retired from the active duties 
of the practitioner, was for many years extensively and successfully engaged 
in general practice and in the teaching of obstetrics in Rush Medical College. 
During all his medical career he remained a diligent student, a prompt and 
faithful attendant upon the sick, a plain, practical teacher of the obstetric art, 
a supporter of medical society organizations, an upright citizen and a faithful 
friend. In his retirement — because of old age — he enjoys the cordial friend- 
ship and hearty respect of the entire profession and of all good citizens." 

The story of Dr. Miller's life is full of interest to the general (even non- 
professional) reader, while it abounds in lessons of instruction and encour- 
agement for his younger brethren, who, standing on the threshold of their 
professional career, would seek to emulate his example and follow in his foot- 
steps. He was born in Niagara county. New York, on May 29, 181 8. and 
until his seventeenth year was engaged in the hard, generally outdoor, work 
of a farm. Here he laid, broad and deep, the foundations of that rugged 
physical strength which distinguished him through life. He proved an apt 
pupil at the district schools, which he attended during the winter months, 
and for several terms his acknowledged qualifications caused the position of 
teacher to be proffered him. This post he accepted from time to time, always 
discharging its incumbent duties with ability, fidelity and to the satisfaction 
of the taxpayers. His vocation, however, was for the study of medicine, and 
this fact dawned upon him early in life. The task which confronted him was 
no easy one, but he was greatly encouraged in perseverance by the kindly 
interest of his first preceptor, Dr. Thomas G. Catlin. For four years he 
taught school in winter, for a mere stipend, his summers being spent either as 
salesman in a general country store, or as an underpaid clerk in a rural post 
office. No doubt the time dragged heavily, and at times his purpose may have 
faltered and his resolution flagged, but in iS40- - 4i he attended lectures at 
the Albany Medical College, and in 1842 graduated from the school at Ge- 
neva. He began practice at Lockport, New York, and removed thence to 
Flint, Michigan. His success there may be said to have been extraordinary, 
yet it was certainly attributable to his own professional skill, no less than to 
his broad, enlightened public spirit, which brought him to the front rank of 
those who were leaders in all movements tending to the betterment 




/chE^L-^: 2t*^u^ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 47 

community, his sympathetic and active interest in educational matters being 
especially pronounced. 

In the autumn of 1852 Dr. Miller came from Flint to Chicago, where he 
at once secured an enviable foothold among the young physicians of the infant 
"Western Metropolis." Two years after his arrival the city was visited by the 
scourge of cholera. This was in 1854, and it was in that year that the first 
general hospital in Chicago was established, largely — if not chiefly — through 
the personal efforts of Rev. Robert H. Clarkson, rector of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church of St. James, afterward Bishop of Nebraska, Dr. Miller 
being appointed physician and surgeon in charge. 

Talents such as his could not be long concealed "under a bushel," and in 
1859 the trustees of Rush Medical College, recognizing his exceptional skill 
and conscientious professional devotion, tendered him the Chair of Obstetrics 
and Diseases of Women and Children. The proffer was accepted and he filled 
the Chair for thirty years. He was ever a professional enthusiast, and in 
1863, feeling dissatisfied with the illustrative resources at his command, he 
visited Europe, where he gathered new data, which he found of great value in 
his lectures. And here, perhaps, may be most appropriately quoted the high 
tribute which Dr. Henry M. Lyman, himself one of Chicago's most eminent 
instructors in medical science, ungrudgingly paid to the great man a short 
time before his life drew to a close: "Dr. De Laskie Miller was a professor 
in Rush Medical College for many years, and the clearest and most eloquent 
teacher of obstetrics in Chicago. He enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, 
which gave him unrivalled opportunities for the study of this branch of 
medicine." 

His skill and research soon won for him an enviable, as well as a lasting, 
reputation throughout the West, and. professional honors were not slow in 
following, one almost upon the heels of another. In 1881 he was chosen a del- 
egate to the Seventh International Medical Congress, which convened- at 
London, England. Six years later the ninth gathering of the same sort was 
held at Washington, and at this Congress Dr. Miller was honored by being 
made president of the Obstetrical Section of that body of distinguished med- 
ical savants. Two years later — in 1889, when the Doctor was in his seventy- 
second year — Rush Medical College paid him the high honor of election to an 
Emeritus Professorship, and the Presidency of the Board of Trustees. Five 
years later (in 1894) some of his admirers presented the college with his 
portrait, and on the occasion of its unveiling Prof. John B. Hamilton, whose 
fame extends over two continents, paid him a tribute as glowing as it was 
well deserved. In the course of his eloquent address of acceptance on behalf 
of the Faculty, Dr. Hamilton said: "We accept this faithful representation 
of an ideal teacher, an accomplished obstetrician, a scholar, a sagacious conn- 



4 8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

selor and a patriotic citizen. Prof. De Laskie Miller has been identified with 
Rush Medical College almost from its beginning, and although still vigorous 
in mind and body, he has been actively associated with every movement which, 
step by step, has placed this college in the advance rank of American insti- 
tutions. His early career as an American journalist, and his presidency of the 
section of obstetrics of the International Medical Congress at Washington, 
extended a knowledge of his worth and ability beyond the confines of his 
city and to other lands, for at the close of that now historic congress he had 
acquired friends and admirers almost to the ends of the earth." 

In this connection may be cited an extract from the college paper, Pulse, 
which showed plainly — even unmistakably — the tendency of his influence 
upon his pupils : "In his personal interviews with medical students he has 
always discouraged their usual haste in obtaining their degree of 'M. D.', and 
urged them to take all the time possible before graduating, regardless of the 
requirements of the college, that they might become the better qualified for 
practice when they should enter the profession." 

Of his profound ability as a lecturer, which was always joined to per- 
spicacity and simplicity of diction, Dr. Ephraim Ingals has said : "As a lec- 
turer and with students Dr. Miller is popular." And to this he adds, in 
speaking of his general character as a physician and a man, this panegyric : 
"He was always a faithful family physician and one of Chicago'.s foremost 
practitioners. Prior to his retirement from professional work he had the larg- 
est and most select obstetrical practice in the city of which he has long been 
a distinguished ornament. A gentleman of the highest honor and strictest 
integrity, he has ever enjoyed the confidence and respect of his patients and 
his professional brethren." 

Dr. Miller was long connected with St. Luke's Hospital as Obstetrician, 
and held the same position on the staffs of the Cook County, Presbyterian 
and Michael Reese Hospitals ; and served as Consulting Physician to the 
Woman's Hospital, the Home for the Friendless and the Hospital for In- 
curables. During his long and distinguished career he was connected with 
many professional and other organizations. Among those of the first men- 
tioned class are the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical, 
the Chicago Medical, Chicago Gynecological and Chicago Medico-Legal So- 
cieties, while he was also a life member of the British Gynecological Society, 
of London, England. Of the Chicago Medical Society he was president as 
early as 1856, and held the same office in the local gynecological society in 
1881. In 1886 Hobart "College conferred on him the degree of A. M.. honoris 
causa, and he also received the degree of Ph. D., from Butler University. In 
the Masonic fraternity he attained the highest honors, having received the 
Knights Templar degree of the York Rite, the thirty-third degree of the Su- 
preme Council of the Scottish Rite, and having been also an honorarv member 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 49 

of the Ancient Ebor Preceptory of York, England. He was made Director of 
the Medical Staff of the conclave of Knights Templars held in Chicago in 
1880, and accompanied Apollo Conmandery on its European pilgrimage, in 
the summer of 1883, in the same capacity. From active participation in the 
affairs of the order, as well as those of all other societies of which he was for 
many years an honored member, Dr. Miller withdrew toward the latter part 
of his life; while the institutions with which he was long connected deplored 
the loss of his inspiring presence and wisely directed labors. His physical 
strength, nevertheless, was wonderful, in view of his advanced age. He was 
ever careful of his health, and always had a deep and abiding faith in the 
therapeutic power of fresh air and healthful, outdoor exercise. His face bore 
a strong resemblence to that of the great surgeon Agnew, but showed both 
finer lines and greater force. He was amiable in disposition, genial in tem- 
perament, clean and wholesome in mind, and a faithful friend. 

His brother physicians held him in high esteem. Of him Dr. Henry T. 
By ford writes : "A higher type of gentleman or a better teacher of obstetrics 
than Dr. DeLaskie Miller, Chicago has hardly seen, and the city suffered an 
appreciable loss when he retired from active work in the profession. At pres- 
ent he is beloved and respected by us all, and although too modest to achieve 
the recognition he deserved, his name will be preserved in the records of 
Chicago's rapid and great development as one of the select few." 

Dr. N. S- Davis, Sr., writes : "Dr. Miller, now retired from the active 
duties of his profession, was for many years an extensive and successful gen- 
eral practitioner, and a teacher of obstetrics in Rush Medical College. Dur- 
ing all his active career he remained a diligent student, a prompt and faithful 
attendant upon the sick, a plain practical teacher of the Obstetric Art, a sup- 
porter of medical society organizations, a genial, faithful citizen and a stead- 
fast friend. In his retirement from old age, he enjoys the cordial friendship 
and respect of the whole profession and of all our citizens." 



HOSMER ALLEN JOHNSON, M. D. 

Hosmer Allen Johnson, M. D., of Chicago, was born in a town called 
Wales, near Buffalo, New York, October 22, 1822, and died at his home, in 
the winter of 189 1. He lived in his native village until about ten years of age, 
enjoying those advantages of early boy life which spring from a home filled 
with elevating influences, and from contact with the phenomena of rural 
nature. 

It was interesting to note how this early study of the beautiful acted like a 
4 



5 o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

lofty education, and impressed itself on the whole tone of the mind. Near his 
early home there is a hill range of considerable height. Its rocks are carved by 
streams into gorges, decorated with mosses and wild flowers and crowned 
with woods. Here the boy Hosmer Johnson used to wander and climb, study- 
ing the beauty of the views, and filling his memory with pictures which tinted 
all his life, and were never effaced by the larger views of other regions. Here 
he learned to love Nature, and to realize how its magnificence typifies the 
.glory of its Creator. These sentiments never died out. On the contrary they 
strengthened with his growth, and helped to form in him that pure and ele- 
vated taste which gave such a charm to his whole career. 

It was this which caused him to select a scientific profession, as well as 
to study Nature for a recreation. He traversed wild rivers in a canoe, sleeping 
in the forests ; he climbed the White Mountains, on foot, and, rolling himself 
in a blanket, slept under the stars, with a friend or two at his side. The same 
feeling led him to explore Switzerland, California, Colorado and the mountains 
about Puget's Sound. 

These memories prompted him when he assisted to found the Chicago 
Academy of Sciences and the Astronomical Society, as well as the Historical 
Society, and led him to say and do all he could to encourage the study of 
natural objects. Such results are worthy of thought at a period when the 
growth of cities is more and more shutting men out of Nature. Perhaps, if we 
could bring more children under the influences which molded the youth of 
Johnson, we would have more such men in after life. 

At the age of about twelve years, he removed to Almont, Michigan, and 
lielped cut a farm out of the woods, at a time when wolves and Indians were far 
more abundant than civilized beings. During this period an attack of sickness 
left him with an irritation of the bronchial tubes which never fully left him, 
and caused many of his acquaintances to suppose for fifty years that he was 
on the verge of consumption. There was, however, not the slightest tendency 
to tuberculosis in any part of his body, but the pulmonary irritation subjected 
him to repeated attacks of pneumonia, and it was one of those which at last 
caused his death, at the age of sixty-eight years. In his early manhood he 
expected only a short life, and scarcely dreamed of attaining the age which 
lie finally reached. 

In the year 1841 he entered into an academy at Romeo, Michigan, where 
lie prepared for college, and then entered the University of Michigan, from 
which he graduated in 1849. His educational career showed a remarkable 
talent for the acquisition of languages, both ancient and modern, and he 
studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, Italian and, to some extent, 
Spanish. In his boyhood he also picked up, from the surrounding Indians, a 
considerable practical knowledge of the Ojibway tongue. Three years after 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 51 

taking his degree of A. I!.. he received the degree of A. M., and at a later 
period, that of LI.. I). 

After graduating Dr. Johnson went to Chicago, and commenced the 
study of medicine under the supervision of Professor llerriek. In 1851 he 
became the first Interne of Mercy Hospital, and in [852, he graduated at 
Rush Medical College. In 1853 he became a member of the Faculty, and con- 
tinued with it until [858, when he resigned. Not long after his resignation he 
united with a few others in founding the Chicago Medical College, in which 
he was a professor and trustee from the beginning to the day of his death, and 
was the first President of the Faculty. He was for some years editor of the 
North Western Medical Journal, and afterward a member of the City, State 
and National Boards of Health. 

During the war of the Rebellion, he was commissioned by the Governor, 
with the rank of Major, as one of the Board for Examining Surgeons and 
Assistant Surgeons for the Illinois regiments, and such was the faithfulness 
of the board, that the medical officers of Illinois were conspicuous in the whole 
army for their thorough knowledge, and for their humane and skillful conduct 
on the field of battle. It is said that as member and president of this board. 
he examined for appointment over one thousand physicians. In examining 
Assistant Surgeons for promotion, he had to travel the field of war, and his 
duties brought him occasionally under fire, at which times he showed his skill 
as an operator, and as manager of field and ambulance service. 

After the great Chicago fire, Dr. Johnson was one of the chief managers 
of the Relief and Aid Society, which distributed millions of dollars of property 
among the sufferers. Dr. Johnson was much more than simply an eminent 
physician. He was a magnificent man, possessing a clear, trenchant intellect, 
and a great and noble heart. His reputation is without spot, and his honor 
without stain. 

Dr. Johnson married Miss Margaret Ann Seward, a relative of the New 
York statesman, William H. Seward. He had two children, of whom only one 
survived him, Dr. Frank Seward Johnson, Professor of Pathology in the 
Chicago Medical College. 

Of Dr. Johnson. Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., has written: "Hosmer Allen 
Johnson, M. D., LL. D., has been very generally recognized as one of the best 
educated and most talented physicians of Chicago. His whole collegiate edu- 
cation was obtained from the proceeds of his own industry, largely in teach- 
ing school, and yet he always maintained a position at the head of his classes. 
The year following his graduation from Rush Medical College, he was elected 
to the professorship of Materia Medica, and he remained a member of that 
Faculty until 1859, when he united with others in founding the college now 
known as the Northwestern University Medical School, and remained one 



52 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



of the most popular and influential members of its Faculty until his death 
in 1891. During the Civil war he was a member of the State Board of Medical 
Examiners and the chief medical adviser of Gov. Richard Yates. He was a 
member of the National Board of Health during the existence of that body, and 
also of the Illinois State Board of Health, and an active member of the local, 
State and National Medical Societies, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the 
Chicago Historical Society, and the Astronomical and Microscopical Societies. 
He was a man of unusual mental activity, an eloquent speaker, an excellent 
teacher, a faithful friend, and he occupied one of the highest positions in the 
Masonic fraternity. He has left but few contributions to medical literature, 
but he was a consistent and efficient supporter of measures for the advance- 
ment of medical education and of the public health." 

Frank Seward Johnson, M. D.. the distinguished son of a distin- 
guished father, was born April 18, 1856, in Chicago, the home of his parents, 
Dr. Hosmer Allen and Margaret Ann (Seward) Johnson. Inheriting from 
his honored father the love of the medical profession and the great activity 
for deep research afforded an alert mind by the many different branches, he 
pursued his education with the medical college as the ultimate end. At the age 
of twelve years he went abroad and spent some fifteen months at school in 
Germany and Switzerland. When eighteen years old he entered the College 
of Liberal Arts, Northwestern University. Evanston. Illinois, and was grad- 
uated therefrom in 1878. In the fall of that year he entered the Medical 
Department of the same institution, and after completing the full course with 
credit he received his degree of M. D. in 1881. His career at college had so 
marked him as a careful and painstaking student, thorough in all he attempted, 
that he received the appointment of Interne in the Cook County Hospital, con- 
tinuing there from the spring of 1882 to the fall of 1883, when he was called 
by his Alma Mater to be Demonstrator of Histology — a branch to which he had 
given particular attention, not only in the class room, but also in private 
investigation. In 1884 he became Lecturer of Histology, and in 1886. Pro- 
fessor of General Pathology and Pathological Anatomy, a chair in which he 
won much distinction. During the latter year he spent six months in Vienna 
in study. He is an ideal instructor, and inspires the students not only to a 
close study of the subject under discussion, but to original research, doing in 
that way work of incalculable benefit to the profession by elevating the 
standard of the attainments of the younger generations of physicians and 
surgeons. Continuing in the Chair of Pathology until 1899. he was then 
made Professor of Medicine and Clinical Medicine. In 1898 he had been 
made Dean of the Medical College. In 1901 a protracted illness compelled 
him to resign from active work in the college. He is a natural student, and 
keeps a watchful eye on the new discoveries in medical science, and has 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 53 

added not a little to the advancement of the profession by his own enthusias- 
tic interest in all that pertains to it, and the natural magnetism of such en- 
thusiasm keeps alive and burning the fires to illumine the paths to new 
discoveries. 

In writing of Dr. Frank Seward Johnson, Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., says: 
"He is one of the more prominent of the younger physicians of this city. With 
good natural endowments he enjoyed the advantages of an academic and 
classical education, graduating from the Northwestern University in 1878, 
and from the Medical School of the same University in 1881. Entering upon 
the practice of his profession with his father, he rapidly acquired an excellent 
reputation and a remunerative practice in the best circles of society. He was 
well trained in Microscopy and Histology, and in 1886 he was appointed to the 
Chair of General Pathology and Pathological Anatomy in his Alma Mater. 
After discharging the duties of the chair ten years with much credit to himself 
and satisfaction to the College, he resigned, that he might devote more time 
to general practice and to clinical instruction as Professor of Clinical Medicine 
in connection with Mercy Hospital. He still holds the Clinical Professorship. 
He is a consulting physician to several hospitals, an active member of the 
regular medical societies, and is well known as a man of integrity, wide 
scientific attainments, and high reputation as a teacher and practitioner of the 
healing: art." 



EDMUND ANDREWS, A. M., M. D., LL D. 

With the medical history of Chicago the name of Dr. Andrews was 
most prominently identified for a period of more than forty years. During all 
that time he was associated with the growing interests of medical educa- 
tion of the city. He was one of the founders of the Medical Department of 
the Northwestern University, and as Surgeon and Consulting Surgeon was 
for many years connected with many hospitals of the city. 

Dr. Andrews was born at Putney, Vermont, April 22, 1824, a son of 
Rev. Elisha D. Andrews, the Congregational minister of that town, who was 
born in Southington, Connecticut, a son of Benjamin Andrews, who was a 
minute-man during the Revolutionary war. Rev. Elisha D. Andrews mar- 
ried Betsy Lathrop, who was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, a 
granddaughter of Rev. Joseph D. Lathrop, D. D., who for sixty-two years 
had charge of the Congregational Church at West Springfield. To Rev. 
Elisha D. and Betsy Andrews were born six children : Seth, Anne, Joseph, 
Charles, Edmund and George. When Edmund Andrews was five years of 
age he removed with his parents and family from Putney, Vermont, to West 



54 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



Bloomfield, New York, and thence successively to Mendon, New York, and 
to Pittsford, New York, near Rochester, where he lived on a farm. He at- 
tended the district and select schools of these towns. From Pittsford he re- 
moved to Armada, Michigan. At Romeo Academy, near Armada, he pre- 
pared for college, and entering the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, he 
graduated from the Literary Department in 1849. Matriculating in the Med- 
ical Department, he completed the course and graduated with the class of 
1852. From his Alma Mater Dr Andrews successively received the de- 
grees of A. B., A. M., M. D. and LL. D. Moreover he was appointed, im- 
mediately after his graduation in the Medical Department, Demonstrator of 
Anatomy and Professor of Comparative Anatomy. This position he con- 
tinued to fill until 1856 or 1857, when he resigned to become Professor of 
Anatomy at Rush Medical College, Chicago. Several years later, in union 
with Drs. Johnson, Davis and others, he founded what is now the Medical 
School of the Northwestern University, and became Professor of Surgery, 
which Chair he continued to fill with eminent ability until his death. January 
24, 1904. Dr. Andrews was also Senior Surgeon of Mercy Hospital. Con- 
sulting Surgeon of Michael Reese Hospital and the Illinois Hospital for Wo- 
men and Children, and Consulting Surgeon at other hospitals in Chicago and 
elsewhere. During the Civil war he was appointed Surgeon-in-chief of 
Camp Douglas, Chicago. Subsequently he was ordered to the front as Sur- 
geon of the First Regiment of Illinois Light Artillery, in which he continued 
to serve for about a year, when his health broke down and he was sent back 
to Chicago. He participated in several fights and many marches. 

Dr. Andrews was a member of the Chicago Surgical and 
Chicago Medical Societies, the American Medical Association, the Illinois 
State Medical Society, the Mitchell District Medical Society of Indi- 
ana, and of several city medical societies. He was one of the founders of and 
a prominent member of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, a member of 
the Wisconsin Medical and Historical Society, the Academy of Sciences at 
Davenport, Iowa, and of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Re- 
public. Though educated both in Medicine and Surgery he made a 
specialty of the latter. 

In April, 1855, Dr. Andrews was married, at Detroit. Michigan, to Miss 
Eliza Taylor, who was born at Mendon. New York, in 1826. daughter of 
Jerry Taylor, a merchant, who early in the thirties moved from New York to 
Michigan. By this marriage Dr. Andrews had five children, namely : 
Charles T., E. Wyllys, Frank T., Leo H. and Edmund L. Of these there 
are three living : Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews and Dr. Frank Taylor Andrews, 
both practicing physicians at Chicago, and Edmund L. Andrews, an electri- 
cal engineer. The other two children died in infancy. Mrs. Andrews died 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 55 

in 1880, and three years later Dr. Andrews, for his second wife, married Airs. 
Frances M. Barrett, sister of his first wife. 

A sketch of him and his work, recently penned by the venerable Dr. N. S. 
Davis, Sr., is here appended : 

"Edmund Andrews, perhaps now the oldest practitioner and teacher of 
Surgery in this city, was born in Putney, Windham county, Vermont, April 
22, 1824. While yet a boy his father moved with him to central New York, 
where they were both chiefly occupied in farm labor. The son, however, im- 
proved every opportunity for the study of the elementary branches of educa- 
tion. At the age of seventeen years he removed to the State of Michigan, 
and for. three years so divided his time between manual labor and study 
that at the end of that time he was enabled to enter the University of Michi- 
gan at Ann Arbor, as a Freshman. While in the University he developed 'a 
strong predilection for Mathematics and the Natural Sciences, and received 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1849. He then commenced the study of 
medicine as a pupil of Dr. Zina Pitcher, of Detroit, who had been a Surgeon 
in the American army during the war of 181 2, and was an ex-president of 
the American Medical Association. The following year, 1850, he entered 
the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, and at the end of that 
college year he was made Demonstrator of Anatomy. At the end of his 
second college year, 1852, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He, 
however, continued to hold the office of Demonstrator, and in addition to the 
duties gave lectures on Comparative Anatomy. In 1853 he took an active 
part in the organization of the Michigan State Medical Society, and also be- 
came editor of the Peninsular Journal of Medicine and Collateral Sciences, 
and sustained both with ability and success. In 1855 he was induced to accept 
the office of Demonstrator of Anatomy in Rush Medical College, and changed 
his residence to Chicago. He retained his position in that college only one 
year, after which he devoted his time and talents to the practice of his profes- 
sion, with a strong predilection for Surgery, for, which his mechanical genius 
and scientific attainments eminently qualified him. About this time Dr. An- 
drews joined with Robert Kennicutt, H. A. Johnson, N. S. Davis and several 
other citizens, in founding the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and through 
all of its vicissitudes of adversity and prosperity he has given it most valuable 
and efficient support. In 1859 he joined with Drs. H. A. Johnson, R. N. 
Isham, N. S. Davis and W. H. Byford in organizing a Medical Department 
of Lind University (now Lake Forest), and was assigned to the Chairs of 
Surgery and Clinical Surgery. He has been one of the strong and efficient 
supporters of the Medical School then organized, through its changes of 
name, to the present time. His surgical practice rapidly increased, and after 
the death of Dr. Daniel Brainard, in 1866, he became the leading operating 



56 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

surgeon throughout what was then called the Northwestern States, more 
properly now the Middle West. 

"Early in the great Civil war, between the Northern and Southern 
States, he accepted the position of Surgeon of the First Regiment of Illinois 
Light Artillery, and under the command of Generals Grant and Sherman ren- 
dered such efficient service as received the highest commendation. After one 
year of active service with the army in the field he was permitted to resign, 
and return to his duties as Professor of Surgery in the Medical College. From 
an unusual faculty for inventing means for the accomplishment of given ends 
he early acquired pre-eminence in the treatment of spinal and other deformi- 
ties. He was an energetic and instructive lecturer, both in the class room and 
in the Clinical Wards of the Mercy Hospital, always holding the close atten- 
tion of his classes and ever punctual to his engagements. He was a valuable 
and efficient supporter of medical societies, and an active and honored mem- 
ber of the Chicago Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, and of 
the American Medical Association. He made many valuable contributions to 
medical literature, and is the author of several volumes on special Surgical 
subjects. His scientific contributions, especially in the departments of 
Geology and Botany, have been numerous and valuable. He continued active 
clinical instruction to the college classes in the Mercy Hospital until last year 
(1899), when, at the age of seventy-five years, he resigned, and now occupies 
the position of Emeritus Professor of the Principles and Practice of Surgery 
and Clinical Surgery. During his entire career as a professional and scien- 
tific man, his influence has been altogether on the side of religion, integrity 
and true patriotism. Once only has he found time to cross the Atlantic, 
which was in 1867, when he visited the colleges and hospitals of London 
and Paris." 

Numerous articles in medical journals and one text-book on surgery 
(which went through three editions) are credited to his pen. Prof. Andrews 
died January 24, 1904, in his eightieth year. Memorial services held one 
month later were conducted under the auspices of the local medical societies, 
the medical schools and several other organizations. Addresses were given 
by Prof. Vaughan, Dean of the Michigan University Medical Department. 
Dr. Gunsaulus, of Chicago. Dr. Davis, President James, of Northwestern 
University, and others. The services were appropriately held in the Second 
Presbyterian Church, of which he had been an active supporter for fifty 
years. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 57 

MARY HARRIS THOMPSON, M. D. 

The professional life of Mary Harris Thompson centers round the hos- 
pital which now bears her name as a monument to the courage and persever- 
ance of its founder and to the professional skill displayed during the thirty 
years she stood at the head of the Medical and Surgical Staff. 

Dr. Thompson was born April 15, 1829, at Fort Ann, New York, the 
daughter of John Harris and Calista (Corbin) Thompson, who were both 
natives of that State. A friend of her childhood thus beautifully writes of her 
early life : "An old estate of wide acres and varied landscape in historic 
eastern New York was her birthplace, and Nature in this country place of her 
nativity gave to this clean-souled being most lavishly of her own grand strength 
and of her sweetness. She came of good English stock and to this scion of 
her race was given in a marked degree the sterling qualities of her ancestors. 
Her early education was obtained in the common schools and at a select school 
in her native town. At the age of fifteen she commenced teaching in the 
public schools, alternating the work of teaching with attendance at West 
Poultney (Troy Conference) Academy and Fort Edward Collegiate Insti- 
tute, at which place she received the last of her English education. After this 
she followed the profession of teaching for several successive years, devoting 
all her time which was not thus occupied to the independent study of Astron- 
omy, Chemistry, Physiology and Anatomy, which last two studies she intro- 
duced into the course of instruction at her school, the innovation meeting 
with marked success. She found, however, that independent study left her 
without the drill and the thorough understanding of the subjects which a 
practical demonstration would afford, and she became a student in the New 
England Female Medical College of Boston, a regular school with a good corps 
of instructors. Later she graduated from the New York Female Medical Col- 
lege. Dr. Thompson came to Chicago in July, 1863, having already had exten- 
sive clinical experience in the New York Infirmary under Drs. Elizabeth and 
Emily Blackwell. She had also enjoyed the rare privilege of attending clinical 
lectures in Bellevue Hospital. In the year 1870 the Chicago Medical College 
conferred a degree upon her, the only one which has been granted to a woman 
from this institution. 

In May, 1865, was established the Hospital for Women and Children, 
and from that time until her death, over thirty years later, she held uninter- 
ruptedly the position of head physician and surgeon. The hospital, was inreal- 
ity the forerunner of the Woman's Medical College, which was organized in 
1870. It was but natural that around the only hospital founded and nurtured 
by a woman should center the interests of the medical women of the West, and 
when Dr. William H. Byford, Dr. William G. Dyas and others came forward 



5 8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

to champion the cause of medical education for women, it was only a question 
of ways and means until the college was on a firm foundation. The hospital 
was first located on the corner of Rush and Indiana streets. In July, 1869, 
it was removed to No. 402 North State street, and it was there the first course 
of lectures in the college curriculum was delivered. In 1873 tne present loca- 
tion, corner of Adams and Paulina streets, was secured and in 1885 the hand- 
some building now occupied by the hospital was erected. 

Through all the changing and moving incident to the enlarging of her 
work, Dr. Thompson worked quietly on, with one fixed purpose, to build up an 
institution where the medical and surgical work should be under the control of 
women, and where women and children could receive skillful treatment by 
women. The success which attended her efforts was in a large measure due 
to her peculiar faculty of drawing to her aid many and influential friends. 
The Board of Trustees and Managers of the Hospital has at all times numbered 
among its members the leaders in the social and philanthropic circles of the 
city. After the great fire of 1871 Dr. Thompson went East to solicit funds for 
the hospital work. James Freeman Clarke, after an interview with her. wrote 
to Wendell Phillips as follows : 

Boston, December 20. 1871. 
Dear Wendell: 

Please to hear Miss Thompson's story, and see if you can at any time help her by a public word 
in her behalf. She comes in a good cause, and well recommended by Robert Collyer and other 
good people whom I know. Moreover, she recommends herself, as you will see. 

Yours truly, 

James Freeman Clarke. 

Dr. William H. Byford. who was one of Dr. Thompson's earliest friends, 
and her constant adviser during the years the hospital was being established, 
wrote to a friend : 

Chicago. November 27 1>71 
Dr. Mary H. Thompson, the bearer of this note, is one of the Professors in the Woman's Hos- 
pital Medical College of Chicago. She was the founder and has been the medical attendant since 
its organization of the Hospital for Women and Children of this city. It affords us pleasure to say- 
that her professional and social standing is in every way unexceptional. I would cordially reccm- 
mend her to such of my professional friends as she may meet as worthy of any kindness they may- 
show her. 

W. H. Byford. 

The training school for nurses organized in connection with the hospital 
grew rapidly as the work of the hospital increased, and not the least valuable 
of Dr. Thompson's work is represented in the large numbers of graduate nurses 
who received thorough instruction under her tuition. Her arduous duties as 
head of the hospital gave her little time for writing, and on this account her 
work is not as widely known in the profession as it deserves to be. She 
invented several surgical instruments of value, especially an abdominal needle 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 59 

which has been widely adopted by surgeons. She was for years the only 
woman in Chicago doing major surgery. The one trait in Dr. Thompson's 
character which as a physician and surgeon was perhaps the most prominent 
was her good judgment. She possessed strong common sense. She recognized 
that probability is the rule of life and applied it to her surgical and medical 
work in a practical manner. She was a woman of great mental strength. She 
formed her own philosophy, although her mind was ever open to new truths. 
Her books were her friends and constant companions. She entered little into 
the social life of the city, finding it impossible to combine a social life with the 
conscientious performance of professional duties. She was an indefatigable 
worker, both mentally and physically, and her magnificent health allowed her 
to accomplish what would have been impossible for a woman of less physical 
vigor. She had a keen appreciation of the genius for labor in others. To a 
friend who sent her the results of five years of scientific research she wrote : 
"What a monument to labor!" 

On the morning of the 21st of May, 1895, Dr. Thompson passed to her 
long rest. Three days previous to her death she had been suddenly stricken 
down by an attack of cerebral hemorrhage. She went, as she had always 
wished to go, quickly, and in the midst of her work. By her death the profes- 
sion lost one of its ablest members ; the hospital, which she founded, lost a 
mother, and her friends, a friend whose place can never be filled. The follow- 
ing eulogy was delivered before the Chicago Medical Society at the first meet- 
ing following Dr. Thompson's death by a life-long friend, Dr. John Bartlett : 

"Mr. President : It is our sad duty at this meeting to pay a tribute of 
respect to a departed member. Dr. Mary H. Thompson, so long and so hon- 
orably associated with us, has passed away. Of this honored member and 
notable woman I feel impelled to utter some words of appreciation. Dr. 
Thompson had an active mind and a kind and generous spirit. A good educa- 
tion in scholarship and morals had well prepared her for the work accomplished 
in Chicago. She was endowed with great industry, remarkable perseverance 
and an exhaustless patience. She was a singular compound of modesty of 
opinion and determination of purpose. Mild in demeanor, moderate in asser- 
tion, she wasi yet as persistent as an Earle, and as tenacious of purpose as a 
Fitch. One of the most striking peculiarities of Dr. Thompson was her uncon- 
scious consciousness ' of worth — she bore about her a mysterious 
signet indicating to all that she was a true lady. There was 
that in the conduct, in the bearing, in the utterance of Dr. 
Thompson which inhibited in all the conception of the suspicion 
that she was other than the noble and true woman that she was. Void of 
presumption, with hardly a trace of self-assertion, all about her unconsciously 
felt the weight of her opinions. With the mildest and quietest manner she 



60 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

managed to make her capability for persuasion and control felt by all within her 
influence. Dr. Thompson had in a remarkable degree the faculty of making 
and retaining friends. With her the rule was, once a friend always a friend; 
and with her also that word was received in its broadest and deepest sense. The 
Doctor was devoted to her profession ; she was ever studious and labored indus- 
triously to keep herself abreast of the times, using a ripened judgment in 
sifting from the host of vain novelties the really useful remedies, means and 
methods, as they appeared. 

"Dr. Thompson was what was called a generation ago a woman's rights 
woman ; but, as she expressed it, 'she was always too busy utilizing the oppor- 
tunities for work that now offered to spend time in preaching the gospel of the 
rights of her sex.' The one chief purpose of the Doctor's life was the establish- 
ment of the fact that women were competent to become useful ministers of the 
healing art. The great labor of her life was in connection with the Chicago 
Hospital for Women and Children, not only as physician and surgeon, but, 
when the occasion required it, as organizer, promoter, matron. 

"Mr. President, the noble work of this admirable woman in the cultiva- 
tion and practice of our healing art, in the establishment of a noble eleemosy- 
nary institution, is ended ; and the fruits of her industry, her energy, her cour- 
age, her philanthropy, live in her works. Her efforts, long and never weary, 
for the advancement of her sex, wherever her influence has been felt, have 
struck a chord in the heart and mind of women the sympathetic responses to 
which may not cease so long as the true, the natural, unison of accord be- 
tween man and woman remains unattained. 

"Mr. President : Mortals may not anticipate heavenly decrees, but surely. 
were all here below, acquainted with the life work of our departed friend, to 
hold inquiry as to the use she had made of the talent to her entrusted, we 
should have rendered this verdict, spontaneous and unanimous — 'Well done, 
good and faithful servant.' " 

The Board of Managers of the Hospital she served so long and faith- 
fully published a memorial volume of her life and resolutions of respect and 
sympathy were passed by many societies of women among the laity as well as 
in the profession. Rev. Robert Collyer wrote to one of the Board of Mana- 
gers, on hearing of her death, as follows : 

"The Chicago- Hospital for Women and Children was founded and built 
up by Dr. Thompson out of her heart's love and her life, and what little I could 
do, for one, to help her is not to be counted for a feather-weight. I can remem- 
ber her quiet enthusiasm, the purest enthusiasm of humanity, and her utterly 
unselfish devotion in the work God had given her to do. so that her poor helpers 
could only say Amen! and lend a hand or perhaps a finger. She never tired. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 61 

and never lost her courage and clear grit, no matter what the rest might do, in 
the dark and difficult times through which she had to pass, that she might make 
good her most noble purpose ; and so it is truly the Mary Thompson Hospital 
for Women and Children. In New Orleans they have a statue to the memory 
of a woman who was the godmother, shall I say, to many hapless children, the 
only statue to a woman, they told me, in the Republic. So when you are able 
■ — and you are able to do anything in my dear old Chicago — I hope the second 
will be Dr. Mary Thompson, in pure white marble, set up in the vestibule of 
the hospital. I know she would forbid you, but that's no matter." 

Rev. Dr. William M. Lawrence, for many years a member of the Board of 
Trustees of the hospital, delivered the memorial address. The following ex- 
tract shows his estimation of her character : "I remember the first time I was 
ever associated with her in any public work. It was on the occasion of the com- 
mencement of the Woman's College. I was comparatively a stranger here in 
this city, and all the circumstances and incidents made a very strong impression 
upon my mind, because I was familiar with the struggles which had encom- 
passed woman in the work for recognition in the medical profession. I listened 
on this occasion to which I am referring, with peculiar interest, as the Doctor- 
ate address was delivered by Dr. Thompson. It was direct ; it was simple ; it 
was inclusive; it was conclusive; and the impression that was made upon my 
mind was that here was a woman who had mastered her profession until it had 
become an art, and whose interest in it was not because of her personal ambi- 
tion, but because she loved it and loved it for what it could be to others. Dr. 
Mary Thompson was a woman whose eye was toward the rising sun. I never 
knew a woman who loved the air more than she did. Great natures are always 
in close communion with Mother Nature. The true physician is the one who 
studies nature, who discovers its facts, and who is lead by its discovery to the 
further discovery of some law — universal or special in its application, as the 
case may be. In a word, no one can be a great physician who is not a great 
lover of nature. It is a very peculiar thing that Dr. Thompson died just as the 
sun was rising ; that her prayer was that she might be spared to see the light of 
another day. And if ever there was a nature that could echo Newman's favor- 
ite hymn, 'Lead Kindly Light,' it certainly was hers." 

Dr. I. N. Danforth paid her the following tribute : "To Dr. Mary Harris 
Thompson belongs the unusual distinction of having a hospital for Women and 
Children bear her name in perpetuity ; and the further and greater distinction 
of meriting this unique honor. Dr. Thompson was one of the early pioneers 
among female physicians in Chicago. She was universally respected by physi- 
cians of both sexes, both for her professional abilities and her high-toned wo- 
manly qualities. She was superbly self-reliant, but without a spark of egotism 
or offensive self-assertion. She was so well-balanced, or 'all around' in her 



62 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

make-up, that she moved with a quietude that half concealed her remarkable 
abilities — but she was a strong and positive character." 

Soon after her death the name of the hospital was legally changed, and as 
The Mary Thompson Hospital of Chicago for Women and Children stands as 
a most fitting monument to this "well-beloved physician." 

[Lucy Waite, M. D.] 



LUCY WAITE, B. A., M. D. 

The successful career of this richly endowed physician affords a suffi- 
cient refutation of the theory that surgery is a field not open to women, 
Dr. Waite is the Head Surgeon and Medical Superintendent of the Mary 
Thompson Hospital for Women and Children. She has gone up to her 
present position through years of training both in this country and in 
Europe. Early in her professional life she decided to devote her- 
self to surgical work, and after, several years spent in general 
practice went to Europe to study Gynecology and Abdominal Sur- 
gery. After, two years spent in the clinics of Vienna and Paris she re- 
turned to America and continued her studies in post-graduate medical schools 
in this country. As a surgeon in her special department. Gynecology, she 
has made a good record, and by her executive ability she has brought the 
hospital of which she has charge up to first rank among the institutions of 
the city. Dr. Waite is a graduate of the Chicago University. In 1880 she 
took the degree of B. A. in the old university, and later her degree was re- 
enacted by the new university. She is at present a member of the Univer- 
sity Congregation, having been electetd by the Alumni as one of their repre- 
sentatives for a term of ten years. In 1883 Dr. Waite took a medical degree 
from the Hahnemann Medical College, and later from the Harvey Medical 
School of Chicago. During the two years spent in Europe she was under 
the personal tuition of Carl Braun, Spath and Pa-vlick, in Vienna, and Pean, 
Pozzi and Doleris in Paris. 

Dr. Waite comes of a professional family. Her grandfather. Dr. 
Daniel D. Waite, was one of the pioneer physicians of the city, being among 
the very early presidents of the Chicago Medical Society. Her father. Judge 
C. B. Waite, was for years a United States judge, and her mother. Katha- 
rine Van Valkenburg. was one of the first women to graduate in the law. 
Dr. Waite is the wife of Dr. Byron Robinson. She retains her family name 
at the request of her husband, who is a strong advocate of medical women, 
and has been of great assistance to his wife in her surgical studiees. Dr. 
Waite is a clear anil concise writer, and has contributed many valuable ar- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 63 

tides to the medical journals. She is a good German and French scholar, 
having been obliged to master both these languages while prosecuting her 
medical studies abroad. She is spoken of by her colleagues as possessing 
excellent judgment and accuracy in diagnosis, and is a skillful operator with 
the lowest per cent, of death rate. 

Dr. Nicholas Senn writes of her: "Dr. Lucy Waite is one of the ablest 
and most successful surgeons in the city. She is the chief surgeon of the 
Mary Thompson Hospital for Women and Children, and under her super- 
vision the institution has prospered wonderfully." 

Dr. Henry L. Byford says: "Dr. Lucy Waite is a growing woman. She 
has inherited a fine mental quality, and possesses perseverance, tact and de- 
votion to her profession. She forgets herself in her work and gives her best 
efforts, and has well earned the place in the front ranks to which she has 
so rapidly risen. She honors her position as successor to the celebrated 
pioneer, Mary Thompson." 

Dr. Christian Fenger paid her the following tribute: "Dr. Lucy Waite 
has attained high rank in the profession by hard work of a superior kind and 
this in spite of the difficulties which attend the pioneer. She has always 
been, and is now, a hard and earnest student. As an operator and an ab- 
dominal surgeon she has an enviable reputation." 



E. C. DUDLEY, A. B., M. D. 

E. C. Dudley, a prominent physician of Chicago, was born at Westfield, 
Massachusetts, May 29, 1850. His ancestry is decidedly interesting. Capt. 
Roger Dudley was killed in the War of the Roses. One of his sons, Thomas 
Dudley, landed in Boston in 1630, and became Governor, of Massachusetts; 
while another son, William Dudley, of whom Dr. Dudley is the direct de- 
scendant, landed in 1638, and afterward settled in the historical village of 
Guilford, Connecticut, where so many celebrated New England families have 
originated. 

Several of Dr. Dudley's ancestors fought in the French and Indian War, 
among them Lieut. Joseph Dudley. Capt. Cyprian Dudley, Ensign Daniel 
Bascom, John Hyde and Launcelot Granger. Among the names of the New- 
England ancestors may be mentioned those of Sampson, Mason, Adams. 
Harmon, Pratt and Phelps. 

Five ancestors, including his father's father, and his mother's grand- 
father, fought in the Revolutionary war. His father's great-uncle, Gideon 
Granger, held the position of postmaster general. His paternal grandmother's 



64 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

faather, Dr. Amos Granger, was an army surgeon in the war of the Revolu- 
tion, and accompanied General Gates in his campaign into northern Xew 
York. 

John Harmon Dudley, Dr. Dudley's father, was a farmer during the 
summer, and in the winter taught a district school. The ruggedness of life, 
and the sternness of character resulting from it, during all this "Age of 
Homespun," is constantly before us in the characteristics which we find in all 
communities which have been leavened by Xew England blood. The com- 
bination of industry and frugality, necessary conditions of existence then, 
became woven into the moral fibre, and prevail as marks of character long 
after the necessity has passed. 

The subject of this sketch left the public schools at the age of thirteen, 
and from that time until he was eighteen was in the service of an apothecary. 
In September, 1868, he began the study of Latin, Greek, Algebra and Geom- 
etry, with a tutor, and ten months later passed the entrance examination for 
the Freshman class in the Academical Department of Dartmouth College. 
He was graduated from this institution in 1873. with the degree of A. B. He 
is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Chapter of Dartmouth College. During 
his college course he taught school four terms, making up the lost time and 
continuing with his class; in fact, during all the period of his education he 
relied almost entirely upon his own efforts for support. 

In the summer of 1872, Dr. Dudley was attached to the United States 
Coast Survey with Prof. Quimby, who was engaged in triangulations be- 
tween the New Hampshire sea-coast and Lake Champlain. He attended 
medical lectures at Yale in 1873-74, and during the time "coached" Xew 
Haven students in the preparatory and Freshman class in Latin. Greek and 
Mathematics. He took his medical degree at Long Island College Hospital 
in 1875, and was valedictorian of his class. After serving for a short period 
at the West Pennsylvania Hospital, in Pittsburg, and at the Charity Hospital. 
Blackwell's Island, he undertook the practice of medicine in Chicago, but 
after a year returned to Xew York and for eighteen months was Interne 
in the Woman's Hospital. His term of service there was completed in 
April, 1878. since which time he has continuously practiced in Chicago. 

In 1882 the Northwestern University Medical School ( Chicago Med- 
ical College) invited Dr. Dudley to accept the position of Professor of Gynae- 
cology, and he still holds this position. Among the various positions he has 
held, or holds, may he mentioned that of Gynaecologist to St. Luke'^ Hos- 
pital, Chicago. He is a member of the Xew York County Medical Society. 
the Chicago Gynaecological Society, the American Academy of Medicine, the 
American Gynaecologist Society, the British Gynaecological Society, and 
the Woman's Hospital Alumni Association. He also holds membership in 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 65 

various State, national and international, and numerous local, societies. He 
founded, and was editor of, the Chicago Medical Review. The follow- 
ing is a partial list of his published papers : "Puerperal Laceration of the 
Cervix Uteri, and the Operation of Trachelorraphy as a Means of Cure," 
Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, March, 1879; "Displacement of the 
Uterus," Pepper's System of Medicine; "Pressure Forceps Versus the Liga- 
ture and the Suture in Vaginal Hysterectomy," Gynaecological Transactions, 
1888; "A Plastic Operation Designed to Straighten the Anteflexed Uter- 
us," American Journal of Obstetrics, Vol. XX, No. 2, 1891 ; and a larger 
work entitled "Principles and Practice of Gynaecology." 

Dr. Dudley's most noted literary work is a book on Diseases of 
Women, which is a very valuable work, and most expressive of the individu- 
ality of the writer. It is already in the second edition, and is recognized as 
a text book in more than eighty medical colleges. 

In 1882 Dr. Dudley was married to Miss Anna Maria Titcomb, of Win- 
netka, Illinois. Her father, Silas Benton Titcomb, was an engineer in the 
construction of the Boston & Albany railroad, one of the engineers who ac- 
companied Major Whistler on the Commission of the Czar of Russia to build 
railroads in that country. He was also a soldier during the entire war of 
the Rebellion. Her mother, Jane Grey (King) Titcomb, was a daughter of 
Daniel King, a pioneer and prominent citizen, in early life a resident of Pal- 
mer, Massachusetts, but later of Bureau county, Illinois. Mrs. Dudley's 
grandfather, Lieut. Pierson Titcomb, was an engineer in the regular army in 
the early part of the century. Mrs. Dudley is a versatile, brilliant, charitable 
and extremely useful woman. Her ancestry, which is largely from Dutch 
and French Huguenot families, is an interesting counterpart to the ancestry 
of her husband. Among these families may be mentioned the Hopes of Am- 
sterdam and the De Les Derniers of Maine and Rhode Island. Mrs. Dud- 
ley's paternal grandmother was Anne Maria De Les Dernier, daughter of 
Peter Francis Christian De Les Dernier, of Newport, Rhode Island. Among 
the families to which Mrs. Dudley is related collaterally, or by descent, may 
be found the name? of Ellis, Prescott, Bartlett, Poore, Rolfe, Pierson and 
Lord. Dr. and Mrs. Dudley have five children, Katharine, Dorothy, Helen, 
Prescott and Caroline. 

Dr. Dudley's writings have been reasonably prolific, but have their spe- 
cial value in the strength and simplicity of their statement and the freedom of 
their precept from what may be called the deadwood of professional tradi- 
tion. As an operator he is rapid, dexterous, and resourceful. As a practi- 
tioner he is thoroughly removed from the one-sidedness of specialism, and 
though strictly limiting his practice to Gynaecology and Abdominal Surgery 
is broad in his therapeutic tendencies. The positiveness of his conviction and 



66 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

method renders him a distinctive force in all his relations. This character- 
istic, although somewhat limiting his intimacies, very markedly reinforces his 
friendships. He has been decidedly a pioneer in lopping off from his specialty 
much that was merely traditional, undesirable and irrelevant. 



FRANK CARY, M. D. 

Dr. Frank Cary is a physician who is not only beloved in every home into 
which he enters, alike for his professional skill and for his many admirable 
qualities as a man, but who is also held in high esteem among his professional 
brethren, because of his rare skill as a specialist. He comes of stanch old 
Puritan stock, and his genealogy is one of which he may feel pardonably' 
proud. 

The first American ancestor of whom any record has been preserved 
was John Cary, who left Bristol, England, in 1634. to become one of the 
Plymouth Colony. His name appears as one of the beneficiaries in the original 
grants made by Ousamequin, the Sachem, or chief, of the Packonockett 
Indians, in 1639, to Milles Standish, Samuel Nash and Constant Southworth, 
in trust for William Bradford, John Cary, and others therein named. He 
was a man of muscular frame, strong and athletic in his physical development, 
after the manner of his line. His family is one of the most illustrious in 
England, more than one page of the history of that country having been 
illumined by their achievements. In "Burke's History of the Landed Gentry 
of England," many interesting facts relative to the family history are given, 
while "Burke's Peerage'' presents a fac simile of the Cary coat-of-arms. 
Arms: Argentum; Three white Roses on a bend sable. Crest: a swan ppr. 
Motto, Virtute excerptae. 

Joseph Cary, son of John, was born at Bridgewater in 1663. While yet 
a young man he removed to Norwich, and became one of the original proprie- 
tors of Windham, and on February 9. 1694, purchased 1.000 acres of land. 
He was one of the town's most prominent and influential citizens, being re- 
peatedly called upon to take an important part in public affairs, civil, military 
and ecclesiastical, and filling many offices of high trust and grave responsi- 
bility. He was one of the founders of the First Congregational Church of 
Windham, and at the time of its organization, December 10. 1709. was chosen 
a deacon, which office he continued to hold until his death. So high was the 
esteem in which he was held, that he was buried by his fellow townsmen 
under arms, at that time a most unusual tribute of respect. In physique and 
strength he resembled his father, as, indeed, did also his posterity. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 67 

Jabez Cary, son of Joseph, was born in July, 1691, in Norwich, and died 
at Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1760. 

Joseph Cary (2), son of Jabez, was .born in Windham in September, 
1723, and died in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, in 1765. 

Richard Cary, his son, born in Mansfield, Connecticut, in January, 1759, 
was one of the intrepid patriots of 1776, and for seven years served in the 
armies of the Colonies against the forces of the Crown and passed away in 
December, 1841. 

Luther H. Cary, son of Richard, was born at Williamsburg, Massa- 
chusetts, in February, 1800. At his death he left a son, Amzi B. 

Amzi B. Cary, son of Luther H., was born in Boston, Erie county, New 
York, August 3, 1830. He studied medicine at Rush Medical College in the 
earlier years of that institution's history, among his preceptors being Drs. 
N. S. Davis, Sr., Brainard and Freer. He inherited the patriotism and mili- 
tary spirit of his Revolutionary grandsire, and in May, 1862, he entered the 
service of his country as Assistant Surgeon of the Twelfth Wisconsin Regi- 
ment, with the rank of first lieutenant. Within a few months he was forced 
to return home, broken in health from exposure and overwork, and he died 
in September following his enlistment. His wife, whom he married in Wis- 
consin, was Ellen Wade, a daughter of Sylvanus and Betsey (Oakley) Wade, 
the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Frank Cary was born in Calumet, Calumet county, Wisconsin, Octo- 
ber 21, 1857. He received his academic education at Cornell University, and 
began his professional studies under the tuition of Professor Burt C. Wilder. 
He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1882, and immediately after, 
receiving his degree went to the Wisconsin State Asylum, at Winnebago, 
where for several months he was engaged as an assistant to Dr. Kempster, 
the institution's superintendent. Returning to Chicago, he was made Interne 
at St. Luke',s Hospital, later being appointed Pathologist. There he re- 
mained for a year and a half, when he went to New York City, to pursue his 
studies under the eminent Professor William Welch. On his return to 
Chicago, in 1884, he began the general practice of medicine and surgery, but 
of late years he has confined himself almost wholly to obstetrical, practice. 
He has been Obstetrician at the Michael Reese Hospital, and fills the same 
position at St. Luke's. 

By the way of attesting the position which Dr. Cary holds, both in the 
profession and in the community at large, it is worth while to quote, in this 
connection, the following words of encomium written concerning him by the 
skillful surgeon, Dr. Ridlon : "Dr. Cary has no peer in Chicago in his 
special work — obstetrics. Earnest, devoted, unsparing of himself, strictly 
honest, alike with his patients and himself, he quickly wins the confidence and 



68 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

the hearts of all who come to know him. Some one has said that all cele- 
brities have in their make-up something of the charlatan. This quality is 
wholly lacking in Dr. Gary, and perhaps because of this he has not attained 
to the world-wide fame to which his sterling qualities justly entitle him." 

To this high tribute to his worth as a surgeon and a man, Dr. X. S. 
Davis, Sr., adds : "Dr. Cary, during the eighteen years which have elapsed 
since he entered upon the practice of his profession, has acquired a high social 
and professional standing. With mental capacity of a high order, coupled 
with habits of close and continual study, and an early appointment on the 
staff of St. Luke's Hospital, he bas advanced to a reputation and obstetrical 
practice in the best circles of society, not surpassed by any of his contem- 
poraries in this city." 

That higher honors await him is a proposition of which those who know 
him best entertain no doubt. While broad-minded, he is far-seeing; while 
laudably ambitious, he is modest and sincere, choosing rather to keep in the 
background than to expose himself to the charge of self-assertiveness. These 
pronounced traits of bis character are clearly brought out by that eminent 
surgeon, Dr. Henry T. Byford, who, in writing of Dr. Cary, says : "Perhaps 
the most salient characteristic of Dr. Frank Gary is breadth. While practicing 
the specialty of obstetrics he was delivering a course of lectures in the Wo- 
man's Medical School of the Northwestern University on the Principles and 
Practice of Medicine, and refusing to apply for a Professorship of Obstetrics 
that was open to him in a larger school. He wished to build his special prac- 
tice on a broad firm base. 1 le has done so. and is considered by both the pro- 
fession and the laity to be at the head. He is exceedingly popular, and once 
employed, always employed." 

It is not. however, solely in his professional life that the Doctor has won 
the esteem and love of those with whom he has come in contact. As a man. 
he is honored alike for his inborn nobility of soul and his fidelity as a fiiend. 
Writing of him from the standpoint of one who has known him long and 
well, Dr. I. N. Danforth says: "It is fortunate for a man when he happens 
to strike the profession for which he is best fitted. Thus fortunate was Frank- 
Gary, who adorns his chosen calling obstetricy to a degree which few can 
equal. But I. myself, best know Frank Gary as a delightful man : a high-toned 
gentleman, whose honor is dearer to him than anything else; a true friend, 
who fails not in seeing, hearing or doing when his helping hand is needed, 
and who is the same year in and year out. By hard work, conscientious ef- 
fort and unremitting study, combined with eminent ability, he has wrought 
out a reputation in obstetricy which is founded on a rock, and it will stand 
firm under all trials. Moreover he is an ideal citizen, and above all. a most 
charming and noble man in his own home, where men are so apt to exhibit 




C /fm. Jf J2a/^f^- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 69 

their worst qualities. Would that there were more like Frank Cary in the 
ranks of medicine." 

Dr. Cary is a valued and influential member of the American Medical 
Association, the Chicago Medical Association, and the Medico-Legal So- 
ciety. 

On August 13, 1885, Dr. Cary was married to Miss Harriet Heyl, who 
was born in Dunkirk, New York, a daughter of Louis Heyl, a well known 
merchant of that city. Mrs. Cary is a graduate of Cornell University, and 
has received the degree of M. D. from the BlackwelFs Medical College of 
New York City. Three children were born of this marriage : Eugene, 
Louis H. and Clara. 



WILLIAM E. QUINE, M. D. 

The story of the singularly successful career of Dr. William E. Quine, 
the eminent physician, is full of interest, affording, as it does, a noteworthy 
illustration of what may be accomplished by rare mental power when com- 
bined with indefatigable energy and persistent hard work. "While still in the 
vigor of middle life, he has already been the recipient of many distinguished 
honors from his professional brethren, from his Church and from his State, 
and seemingly he has yet before him many years of usefulness and distinction. 

Dr. Quine's birthplace was the quaint old town of Kirk St. Ann, in the 
Isle of Man, with whose delightful dialect and curious customs the genius of 
Hall Caine has made the American reading world familiar. His father was 
William Quine, and his mother's maiden name was Margaret Kinley. Born 
on February 9, 1847, ne accompanied his parents to America when he was 
a child of six years. The family settled at Chicago, and it was in the city's 
grammar schools and at the old "Central" High school that the youth received 
his rudimentary training. After leaving school he began the study of Phar- 
macy and Materia Medica, to which he brought an aptitude derived alike from 
native talent and inborn tastes. His theoretical studies were supplemented 
by practical experience as a drug clerk, and in 1866, feeling a vocation to a 
higher field, he matriculated at the Chicago Medical College. As a student, 
his course was exceptionally brilliant. Before graduation he was appointed, 
after undergoing the ordeal of a competitive examination, an Interne in the 
Cook County Hospital. He has the honor of being the only undergraduate 
of the rank of a junior medical student who has ever been elected to the 
house-staff of the County Hospital over competing graduates. In this position 
his earnest enthusiasm and devotion to duty at once challenged the respectful 
admiration of his superiors, and after passing through various gradations in 



7 o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

the service he was, in 1870, made Attending Obstetrician and Gynecologist 
to the hospital by the medical board. He continued to discharge the difficult 
and responsible duties attaching to that position for ten years, alike with honor 
to himself and advantage to the institution and its beneficiaries. 

Before being thus honored, however, he had received the degree of 
M. D. (1869), and such proficiency had he developed in Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics, that he had scarcely become an alumnus, when his Alma Mater 
summoned him to fill that Chair in her Faculty of distinguished men. To 
appreciate the true worth of such a distinction it must be borne in mind that 
Dr. Quine was then scarcely past twenty-two years of age. As a lecturer he 
was popular, being not only thoroughly qualified in scholarship, but also en- 
dowed with the rare gifts of oratory, ready diction and personal magnetism. 
Dr. Nicholas Serin, speaking of his capability as a lecturer, says of him : ''Dr. 
Quine is one of the most eloquent lecturers on medicine in the country. His 
style of delivery is forcible, and each sentence teaches its own lesson." 

In 1883, Dr. Quine severed his connection with the Chicago Medical 
College, to accept the Professorship of the Principles and Practice of Medi- 
cine and Clinical Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which 
was then rapidly forging to the front among the medical schools of the North- 
west. It is not too much to say that it was largely due to his sagacious, untir- 
ing assiduity, no less than to his personal influence with his associates, that 
this college was amalgamated with the University of Illinois: and it was in 
recognition of this service, no less than of his rare qualifications, that he was 
made Dean of the School of Medicine by the Executive Board of the Uni- 
versity. 

From what has been already said, it may be easily inferred that during 
his three decades of professional life in Chicago, Dr. Quine has been one of 
the busiest of practitioners. His practice has grown to be large and lucrative, 
and each year it partakes more and more of the character of consultation 
work. He still retains his chair in the Faculty of the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, and he is justly ranked among the best equipped and most suc- 
cessful medical instructors of the country. 

Few men are held in higher esteem among his brethren. Dr. N. S. 
Davis, Sr., of world wide renown, says that he is pre-eminently a "strong. 
self-made man, untiring' in industry; a successful practitioner and teacher, 
and faithful in the discharge of every duty." To which the distinguished Dr. 
Frank Billings adds the following encomium: "For twenty-two years I have 
known Dr. Quine as a medical teacher and practitioner. He is an ideal 
teacher; a forceful, logical and clear lecturer, to whom it is a delight to listen. 
Dr. Quine has the faculty of making students work to attain a high standard 
of excellence. Few teachers have the power to arouse an equal enthusiasm. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 7 i 

A still higher proof of his capability in this line is afforded by the loyalty and 
respect cherished for him by his students, alike past and present. What more 
can be said of a teacher than that his students of twenty years ago have never 
found cause to unlearn what he taught ? As a practitioner Dr. Quine has few 
equals and no superiors, either in general or consultation practice. A splendid 
diagnostician, he exhausts the possibilities of each case by the application, 
'when necessary, of all the methods of precision in diagnosis. Logical and 
sound in his analysis of the expressions of disease, he applies hygienic and 
medicinal methods of relief in a manner equally scientific." 

For several terms Dr. Quine served as President of the State Board of 
Health, discharging his obligations to the State with the same unwearying 
patience and unswerving fidelity, which have characterized him in private 
practice. He has been a frequent and most highly valued contributor to med- 
ical journals, his trenchant style, joined to profound learning, always arrest- 
ing and holding the attention of thoughtful, scholarly readers. He is a mem- 
ber of the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, 
the Chicago Medical Society (having been, perhaps, the youngest presiding 
officer of that body of eminent men), and of the Medico-Legal Society of Chi- 
cago. The eminent surgeon J. B. Murphy writes : "Dr. William E. Quine 
as a man is an altruist ; as a physician he is of the old school, and is the high- 
est of its ideal types ; as a medical lecturer he probably has no equal in Amer- 
ica. His discourses are truly classical. He is a deeply religious man, the 
great Master being his ideal physician. By his persistent devotion, untiring 
energy and loftiness of purpose, he has -created for the State of Illinois a great 
medical school, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of which he is Dean." 

Dr. Christian Fenger writes : "Dr. Quine has been for many years one 
of the most prominent figures in medical education in this city. He possesses 
exceptional gifts a.s a lecturer and a teacher. He is beloved by his students 
and esteemed by his colleagues in the profession." 

In his physical build Dr. Quine reminds one of the hackneyed quotation 
from Horace, "mens sana in corpore sano." While not above medium height, 
he is of strong, rugged build, while his mien tells of repose and dignity of 
character. To him work is pleasant and fatigue comparatively unknown. 
His mind is clear, and both his perceptive and reflective powers are ever on 
the alert. His patriotic impulses are strong, and his religious convictions are 
*of that deep, abiding sort which is not infrequently associated with characters 
of moral virility. To a ready fluency of speech he joins a quick perception of 
humor, and a latent capacity for caustic satire. Methodical in his habits, he 
is ever ready to subordinate his own preferences to the wishes of his con- 
freres, despite the fact that few men are endowed with his rare faculty of 



72 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

organization. And while not unduly neglectful of his own interests, has 
never turned a deaf ear to the appeal of the poor. 

His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which 
he is a devout and consistent member, having filled the post of president of 
that strong, influential and typical association of Methodist laymen known as 
the Methodist Social Union. In private life his virtues are no less conspicu- 
ous ; loyally devoted to his family, he is sincerely true as a friend. 

In 1876 Dr. Quine was married to Miss Lettie Mason, of Normal. Illi- 
nois. Mrs. Quine was a lady of ripe culture and extensive travel, as well as 
unusual native ability. As a medical missionary to China, she won merited 
distinction through her unfaltering zeal and her heroic self-abnegation. She 
died June 14, 1903. 



ABRAHAM REEVES JACKSON, M. D. 

The late Abraham Reeves Jackson, of Chicago, was born in Philadel- 
phia, June 17, 1827, and died in Chicago, November 12, 1892. He was a son 
of Washington and Deborah (Lee) Jackson, and received his primary and 
academic education in the public schools and the Central High School of his 
native city. Soon after graduating from the High School he commenced the 
study of medicine in the Philadelphia College of Medicine, from which he 
graduated M. D., in 1848. aged twenty-one years. He commenced practice 
in Kresgeville, Pennsylvania, but the next year moved to Columbia. New 
Jersey, where he remained only a few months, and then established himself 
in practice in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, that continuing to be his home 
until 1870. During the Civil war, however, he entered the army medical 
service, first as Assistant Surgeon and subsequently as Surgeon, and for a 
limited time, as Assistant Medical Director of the army in Virginia. In 1867 
he crossed the Atlantic as Surgeon to the ship "Quaker City.*' and in 1S70 he 
moved to Chicago and adopted as a special practice the surgical diseases 
of women, or Surgical Gynecology. By securing the co-operation of several 
influential men and women, a charter was obtained from the Illinois State 
Legislature for the organization of the Woman's Hospital of the State of 
Illinois, designed solely for the reception and treatment of gynecological 
patients, in 1871. The hospital was opened for patients the following year 
with Dr. Jackson as Surgeon-in-Chief. During the next ten years lie ac- 
quired a fair practice in his chosen specialty, and became an active member 
of the Chicago Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, and of 
the American Medical Association. In 1881 he in conjunction with Drs. 
C. W. Earle, D. A. K. Steele. S. A. McWilliams, E. P. Murdock, and Leonard 





ic/.tfw, %rJ9. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 73 

St. John, organized a new medical college under the general incorporation 
laws of Illinois, called the College of Physicians and Surgeons, now known 
as the Medical Department of the Illinois State University. The first term 
of the new medical school was opened September 26, 1882, with Dr. Jack- 
son as Professor of Surgical Diseases of Women and Clinical Gynecology, 
and also President of the College, offices which he continued to hold until his 
death, in 1892, with a steadily increasing influence and reputation both as 
a teacher and practitioner of surgery. In addition to the three leading medi- 
cal societies already named he was an active member and president of the 
American Association of Gynecologists, and corresponding member, of the 
Boston Gynecological Society. His attention, however, was not entirely 
limited to professional topics, but he was also a member of the Chicago 
Academy of Sciences, the Illinois State Microscopical Society, and of the 
Chicago Medico-Historical Society. He wrote no text-book or treatise on 
any department of medicine. He, however, reported many interesting cases 
and papers to the various medical societies of which he was a member and 
to the medical periodicals of the day. 

Dr. Jackson possessed a strong, well proportioned, physical development, 
and intellectual faculties of rare breadth and activity. In all his social and 
professional intercourse he was genial, kind and generous. Yet he possessed 
that mental positiveness and active ambition that necessarily made him a 
leader in every enterprise in which he was engaged. His death was caused 
by an attack of apoplexy, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He left a wife 
and daughters, but no sons, to mourn on account of their irreparable loss. 
— [N. S. Davis, M. D., Sr. 



DR. JOHN B. MURPHY. 

This eminent practitioner, who stands easily in the very foremost rank 
of American surgeons, and whose fame extends over two continents, was born 
in Appleton, Wisconsin, December 21, 1857. His boyhood was passed upon 
a farm, where he developed those magnificent powers of physical endurance 
which came to him by inheritance, and which have stood him in such good 
stead during a life of arduous, unremitting professional labor. His early edu- 
cational advantages were those afforded by the public schools of his native 
place, and after graduating from the Appleton high school, he at once began 
the study of his chosen profession. His first preceptor was Dr. John R. 
Reilly, also of Appleton. He subsequently completed a course at Rush Med- 
ical College, receiving his degree in 1879. In February, of that year, he was 



74 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

a successful candidate for the position of Interne at the Cook County Hos- 
pital, and continued to discharge his duties until October, 1880, when he 
formed a partnership with Dr. Edward W. Lee, at that time an Attending 
Surgeon at the hospital, a connection which continued for ten years. 

In September, 1882, Dr. Murphy went abroad with a view to pursuing 
his clinical studies in the great educational centers of Europe. For eighteen 
months he availed himself of the opportunities afforded in the hospitals of 
Vienna, Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich and London, returning to Chicago in 
April, 1884. From that time until the present he has been actively engaged 
in practice in that city, although of late years he has devoted himself wholly 
to surgery. 

Few of his contemporaries have achieved a higher, more widespread, 
or better deserved, reputation as a surgeon than he. Every physician is 
willing to concede that the practice of surgery, like the profession of medi- 
cine, because of its very nature, cannot be reckoned as one of the exact 
sciences, and Dr. Murphy is one of those few, rarely gifted men. who seem 
endowed with an intuitive perception of probabilities, whereby he is im- 
measurably aided in arriving at correct conclusions. The sentiment of the 
profession toward him, and the recognition by its members of this rare char- 
acteristic, is well expressed by Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr.. who says of him: "Dr. 
Murphy is one of those active, thoroughly practical surgeons who is not con- 
tent to follow implicitly the routine prescribed by authorities. On the con- 
trary, he boldly devises new operative procedures, such as his 'button' for 
uniting severed intestines, and the compression of the lung for the cure of 
tuberculosis, which have widened his reputation on both sides of the Atlantic.'' 

Another equally pronounced trait in Dr. Murphy's character is the 
promptitude with which he acts when once his conclusion has been reached. 
Hesitancy is foreign to his restlessly energetic temperament, while the ac- 
curacy of his conception is unusually equaled by the brilliant success attending 
its execution. Speaking of his distinguished ability in this direction. Dr. 
Frank Billings says: ''He has a striking personality. It is impossible to meet 
him without recognizing at once a masterful man. His natural ability and 
his culture are recognized by the medical world. Few men have gained so 
great a reputation in twenty years. His ability as a diagnostician of surgical 
diseases and his skill as a surgeon are phenomenal. I never saw a more dex- 
trous operator. He has wondrous executive ability, and in consequence it is 
a pleasure to see the quiet, orderly, unhesitating and rapid completion of an 
operation under his hands, with the aid of his silent and ready assistants." 

Few men of his years have had honors heaped so thickly upon them. 
His unexcelled skill has won for him the Chair of Surgery in the Northwest- 
ern University Medical School, the ChicaQ-o Clinical School, and the Post- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.. 75 

Graduate Medical School and Hospital of Chicago. For eighteen years he has 
been attending surgeon to the Cook County Hospital, and sustains the same 
relation to the Alexian Brothers' Hospital, as well as to the West Side and 
Mercy Hospitals. He is also consulting surgeon to St. Joseph's and to the 
Hospital for Crippled Children. He has been a member of the International 
Congress of Rome and Moscow, and foreign societies have honored both 
themselves and him by electing him to membership — the Surgical Society of 
Paris and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Chirurgie.. Of the last named body 
he is a life member. Among the American organizations with which he is 
connected the most prominent are the American Surgical Association, the 
American Medical Association, the American Association of Obstetricians 
and' Gynecologists, the Academy of Medicine of Chicago, and the Chicago 
Surgical Society. 

His principal professional writings have been : "Gunshot Wounds of 
the Abdomen;" "Actinomycosis Hominis" (he was the first surgeon to rec- 
ognize the disease in America); "Early Operation in Perityphlitis;" "Early 
Operation in Appendicitis;" "Echinococcus Hepatis;" "Original Experimen- 
tal Researches in the Surgery of the Gall Bladder and Intestinal Tract" (illus- 
trating the utility and application of his anastomosis button) ; "Ileus, its Di- 
agnosis and Treatment;" "Surgery of the Lung, Experimental and Clinical;" 
"Surgery of the Blood Vessels, Resection and End-to-end Union of Arteries 
and Veins Injured in Continuity;" "Traumatisms of the Urinary Tract;" 
"Intestinal Fistulae, Pathology and Treatment;" "Surgery of the Gasserian 
Ganglion;" "Tuberculosis of the Testicle treated by Epididymectomy ;" "Plas- 
tic Surgery of the Face;" "Surgery of the Prostate;" "Tuberculosis of Fe- 
male Genitalia and Peritoneum;" and "The Year-book of Surgery." 

Flis professional brethren have written much of him. Dr. Nicholas 
Senn : "Dr. John B. Murphy is a self-made man who has reached the posi- 
tion he now occupies in the surgical world by his own efforts. He is an orig- 
inal thinker and investigator. His anastomosis button, after a long trial, re- 
mains in extensive use." 

Dr. Christian Fenger wrote : "Dr. Murphy is an earnest student whose 
success is well deserved. Flis mechanical ability, technical skill and contribu- 
tions to the literature have combined to make his name well known both in 
Europe and America." 

Dr. Eugene S. Talbot writes : "Two decades ago the late Wil- 
bur F. Story, editor of the Chicago Times, commenting upon medical 
students, remarked that he did not see how it was possible to 
make gentlemanly, refined physicians out of such hilarious, restless 
material. Dr. John B. Murphy was one of those students, who. 
coming from a country home, full of life and ambition, soon Lie- 



7 6 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

came an enthusiastic scientist. Though requirements of attendance upon 
lectures was not as rigid twenty years ago as today, Murphy the student was 
always present, neglecting nothing in lecture or clinic which would be useful 
to the physician and surgeon in after life. His fertile brain was always ready 
to grasp all things that were taught, and, as history has shown, to apply 
such teachings to the best advantage. Ambition and restlessness made him 
a life long student. Not satisfied with the teachings of his college days, he has 
spent a lifetime in study and original research. Such ambition, backed by a 
strong, well developed physique, has naturally given Dr. Murphy a world- 
wide reputation for skill and original methods of practice. Kind and chari- 
table to his patients, affable and agreeable to his fellow practitioners, Dr. 
Murphy is an excellent type of the cultured American physician." 

Dr. William E. Quine writes : "I regard Dr. John B. Murphy as a great 
man. He is one of the good surgeons of the world, accurate as a diagnosti- 
cian, expert as an operator, and prominent as a teacher of surgery. He is a 
student of tireless industry with a mind not bound by authority, but disposed 
to original research. His numerous contributions to the literature of his pro- 
fession are enough to give him high standing without further effort on his 
part. Dr. Murphy is a man of commanding presence and conspicuous neat- 
ness, pleasing personality and the highest moral standard. He is courteous 
and friendly always, a genial companion and a loyal friend. He is true to 
every trust reposed in him. As a man of affairs he deserves to rank with the 
most eminent of our successful business men. As a citizen he is public spir- 
ited, charitable and of extensive influence. He is quick and springy in every 
movement, and his mental processes are just as active. He is a penetrating 
observer, a rapid and accurate reasoner, and a quick and dauntless operator." 

Perhaps no better conclusion can be given to this necessarily imperfect 
sketch of an eminent man than the following eulogy upon him by Dr. John 
Ridlon : "The most brilliant figure in surgery in the West, and perhaps the 
most brilliant in the country, is Dr. John B. Murphy. It is no small thing to 
go in the front rank with the most favoring environment, but it means much 
more to gain that rank from obscurity, with the opposition, or at 
least without the support, of the strongest workers in the field. Thus Dr. 
Murphy must be accorded greater credit for success than for the work which 
he has done in surgery, which work alone would place him in the front rank. 
By this I mean that a man may gain a place without professional skill, pro- 
vided he has within him the qualities of success ; or a man may gain a place 
without those qualities provided he has professional skill, and can do better 
than another those things that need to be done, or those things that no other 
can do. Dr. Murphy can do things and do them in a way that counts for 
success. When I first met him, some ten years ago, he was modestly seeking 
the recognition which he felt his due; today, the world (of surgery) is his." 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 77 



JAMES VAN ZANDT BLANEY, M. D. 

Dr. James Van Zanclt Blaney was born May i, 1820, at Newcastle, Dela- 
ware. At the age of eighteen he graduated from Princeton College, but re- 
mained there for some time afterward, and pursued the study of chemistry 
under the distinguished Professor Joseph Henry, subsequently of the Smith- 
sonian Institute. This post-graduate course evinced the bent of young 
Blaney's mind, and was the index of his success in the future. From Prince- 
ton he went to Philadelphia, and there studied medicine, graduating with 
honors, but, being under age, could not receive his diploma until he attained 
his majority. Ad interim, however, he walked the hospitals, and there gained 
experience that was afterward fruitful. 

In 1842, Dr. Blaney started West, and was with Dr. Daniel Brainard in 
the founding of Rush Medical College. Untiring in energy, unflagging in 
zeal, and of comprehensive genius, he is found filling three Chairs in the 
Facvdty of the College, pursuing the practice of medicine, and lecturing to 
large and appreciative audiences upon varied subjects. His versatility was 
literally unbounded, and his oratorical power was phenomenal. What were 
to others achievements worthy of plaudits from the scientific world were to 
him undertaken and fulfilled, apparently, only as pastime. 

As an analytical chemist, his fame was cosmopolitan, and was manifested 
in the trial of George W.' Green, the banker, who was tried in 1854, for the 
murder of his wife by poison, and convicted on the testimony of Dr. Blaney. 
By the use of novel tests, he detected strychnine in the stomach of the mur- 
dered woman, and in open court, in his usual clear, terse and convincing man- 
ner, explained his formula to the satisfaction of court and jury. Green had 
carefully studied his subject, and believed himself quite safe; but he saw his 
Nemesis standing before him, and at once gave up all hope. The jury ren- 
dered their verdict of guilty without leaving their seats, and Green requested 
a private interview with Dr. Blaney, in his cell. After thanking the Doctor 
for his fairness and courtesy, he exclaimed : "Dr. Blaney, God Almighty 
must have directed your investigation, or you never could have detected the 
poison."' That same night the wretched man hung himself in his cell. In 
this case there was no proof, except that furnished by the Doctor's analysis. 
that strychnine, or indeed any poison at all, had been taken by the deceased. 
Dr. Blaney's analysis was published on both sides of the Atlantic, creating 
great excitement, especially in England, where the celebrated Palmer murder 
trial had just ended in the conviction and execution of the murderer, in spite 
of the failure of the chemist to detect poison. 

In 1857 Dr. Blaney occupied the Chair of Chemistry and Natural Phi- 
losophy, in the Northwestern University, at Evanston. principally to afford 



78 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

him a partial rest, and also to gratify his fondness for rural life. There he 
built a beautiful home, and laid out a garden whose floriculture made it cele- 
brated. In this garden he tested the artificial fertilizers that are now so 
prominent in agriculture. 

During 1861 he was appointed Surgeon of Volunteers, and shortly there- 
after was appointed Medical Director. At the battle of Winchester, he was 
Surgeon-in-chief of Gen. Phil. H. Sheridan's staff, and, until the close of the 
war, filled the position of Medical Director and Purveyor. On the temina- 
tion of the war, he was delegated to pay off the medical officers of the North- 
west, and in furtherance of this duty, disbursed more than $600,000. and was 
promoted to be Lieutenant-Colonel. 

On leaving the army, Dr. Blaney resumed his profession as a consulting 
physician only, devoting himself to the science of Chemistry, and his skill 
therein is thus attested by Lewis Dodge: "In 1853, the Chicago Mechanics' 
Institute advertised premiums for the best native wines and brandies. About 
fifty specimens of brandy were examined, and among them was one sample 
made by Dr. Blaney, from an essential oil or ether, obtained in refining a com- 
mon agricultural product, which was, in fact, the quintessence of brandy. 
The liquors were tested on four different evenings, a careful record being kept, 
and it was found that the committee had on each trial marked Dr. Blaney's 
artificial brandy not only the best, but the oldest. The Doctor assured the 
writer that this brandy was made within the hour in which it was tested, at a 
cost not to exceed twenty cents a gallon. This discovery, stupendous in its 
possible consequences, from a deep sense of duty and a noble self-sacrifice, 
difficult to understand, was suppressed by the good Doctor, and died a secret 
with its author." 

On July 8, 1847, Dr. Blaney was married to Miss Clarissa Butler, daugh- 
ter of Walter Butler, and niece of Hon. Benjamin F. Butler. He died Decem- 
ber 11, 1874, one of the noblest and most accomplished gentlemen that ever 
graced the medical profession of Chicago, leaving four children: James R., 
Charles D., Bessie and Cassie. 

James Van Zandt Blaney was a thirty-third degree Mason, an honorary 
member of the Northern Jurisdiction of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. He 
was Past Master of the Oriental Lodge No. 33. Companion of Lafayette 
Chapter, R. A. M., Past Commander of the Apollo Commandery, K. T.. and 
was the first Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Tem- 
plar in Illinois, and Generalissimo of the Grand Encampment of the United 
States. 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., in writing of his achievements, says: "Dr. James 
V. Z. Blaney, born in Newcastle, Delaware, in 1820. was educated at Prince- 
ton, New Jersey, and graduated in medicine from Jefferson Medical College, 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 



79 



Philadelphia, in 1841. While a student he manifested a special predilection 
for chemistry and was, for a season, Assistant in the laboratory of Professor 
Henry. After spending the winter of 1842 in St. Louis, and the following 
summer visiting Chicago and St. Paul', he was induced to accept the Pro- 
fessorship of Chemistry and Materia Medica in Rush Medical College, and 
became a resident of Chicago. Possessing a nervous temperament, an un- 
usually active and comprehensive mind, with all the attributes of an edu- 
cated gentleman, he quickly gained a high reputation as a teacher of chem- 
istry and materia medica, a lucrative practice, and an excellent social posi- 
tion. He participated actively in the organization and support of the Chicago 
Medical Society and the Illinois State Society in 1850, and took an active in- 
terest in all legitimate public enterprises. At the commencement of the Civil 
War he joined the Medical Corps of the Army, and was mostly employed as 
Medical Director and Inspector, and at the close of the wan he was "made 
Medical Purveyor at Chicago, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He soon 
after resigned, and again resumed the duties of his Professorship in the Col- 
lege, until failure of health compelled his final resignation and retirement 
in 1871." 



EDWARD LORENZO HOLMES, M. D. 

Dr. Edward Lorenzo Holmes was born in Massachusetts in 1828. He 
received a good general education and graduated from the Medical Depart- 
ment of Harvard University, Boston, in 1854. After serving one term as 
Interne in the Massachusetts General Hospital, he crossed the Atlantic ocean 
and pursued medical studies one year at the University of Vienna. Return- 
ing home in 1856, he immediately commenced the practice of his profession 
in Chicago, being one of the first in the city to give his chief attention to 
Diseases of the Eye and Ear. In 1857 he became a member of the Chicago 
Medical Society and also of the Illinois State Society, and remained an active 
and influential member of both until his death. In 1858 he procured the 
organization of the "Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary," with a 
board of trustees and medical staff consisting of an Attending Physician and 
a Consulting Physician and Consulting Surgeon. The Infirmary was 
primarily established for the exclusive benefit of patients too poor to pay for 
medical or surgical services, and Dr. Holmes being the attending physician, 
the institution was open for the reception of its patients at certain hours in 
the day in close connection with the Doctor's office on North Clark street, and 
depended upon the contributions of a few citizens for its support. In two or 
three years the Infirmary was moved to a separate building on Pearson 
street, where it remained until the great fire of 187 1. At the most active stage' 



8o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

of the Civil war, in 1863, he volunteered his services as a Surgeon, and did 
excellent work for a few months. 

Soon after his return he commenced giving clinical lectures on Diseases 
of the Eye and Ear in connection with the Rush Medical College, and the 
work in the Infirmary was much increased by the admission of soldiers dis- 
abled from diseases or injuries of the Eye or Ear. On account of the gen- 
erous and skillful treatment given to the soldiers by Dr. Holmes after the 
close of the war, the Legislatures of Illinois and Wisconsin several times made 
appropriations of a few thousand dollars for the support of the Institution. 
It was totally consumed in the great fire of 1871. But with untiring patience 
and energy Dr. Holmes and his friends commenced its re-establishment, on 
the west side of the city. Fortunately, however, the Legislature of the State 
was induced to accept the Infirmary as one of the State Charitable Institu- 
tions, and to make the necessary appropriations for its rebuilding and perma- 
nent support. An excellent building was erected at the corner of West Adams 
and Peoria streets, in which has been maintained one of the best Infirmaries 
and Clinical Schools for Diseases of the Eye and Ear in this country until 
the present time. Dr. Holmes remained at its head as its guiding spirit until 
near his death, a few months since. In 1868 the Rush Medical College 
created a Professorship of Ophthalmology and Otology, and Dr. Holmes was 
elected to fill the Chair thus created. He accepted, and continued to discharge 
the duties of the Professorship with great ability and increasing reputation 
until 1898, when, at the age of seventy years, he resigned both his Professor- 
ship and the Presidency of the college, having held the latter office the pre- 
ceding eight years. He also took an active part in the organization and 
management of the Presbyterian Hospital, and was the Attending Oculist 
and Aurist of the institution. During his whole professional career he had a 
large and remunerative practice in his special departments, in which he was 
justly regarded as an authority. He was a student of wide attainments, 
being well versed in English, French and German literature, both professional 
and otherwise. Yet he has left but few contributions of his own. except 
brief reports to medical societies concerning his favorite specialties. 

Personally Dr. Holmes was affable, kind and gentlemanly to all with 
whom he came in contact. Professionally, he was conservative in disposi- 
tion, though skillful and eminently successful in operative procedures, and an 
excellent teacher in his chosen departments. 

In 1862 he was married to Miss Paula Weiser. of Vienna, Austria, an 
accomplished German lady whose acquaintance he made while pursuing- post- 
graduate studies in that city in 1857. About two years since Dr. Holmes's 
health and strength began to slowly decline, and in March, iqoo. he died 
from an attack of pneumonia, aged seventy-two years. His widow and five 
children survive him. , [X. S. Davis. M. D.. Sr.] 




CD cc^t^_ SjfcuOr'h ^A&d. t 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 81 



EUGENE SOLOMON TALBOT, M. D., D. D. S. 

Prof. Eugene Solomon Talbot, M. D., D. D. S., who was born at 
Sharon, Massachusetts, March 8, 1847, is tne descendant of an old English 
family resident in the United States for more than two centuries. The Talbot 
family, an old Norman one, entered England with William the Conqueror, 
and has branches in France, England, Ireland and the United States. Peter 
Talbot, the head of the Lancashire branch (and ancestor of the branch to 
which Dr. Talbot belongs), was seized by a press-gang and carried to a ship 
bound for Rhode Island, whence he escaped, living many years thereafter, at 
Dorchester, Massachusetts. He made several unsuccessful attempts to return 
to England, but finally reconciled himself to the situation. He married Mary 
Wadel, January 12, 1688. In 1686, in company with several others, he had 
bought a tract of land in Chelmsford, on which Lowell, Massachusetts, now 
stands. Owing to Indian raids, however, he soon returned to Dorchester, later 
making his home at Milton, Massachusetts, with his son George, born in 1688. 
This son married Mary Turel in 1706, and later settled in Stoughton, Massa- 
chusetts. Dr. Eugene Solomon Talbot is the son of George Talbot's great- 
-great-grandson Solomon, who on November 26, 1843, married Emily E. 
Hawes. She was a descendant in the direct line from Richard Hawes, who 
settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1635. 

Dr. Eugene S. Talbot was the second of a family of ten, five sons and 
five daughters. He received a public school education, followed by academic 
training at Stoughtonham Institute, until the age of sixteen years. He worked 
upon the farm, but becoming interested in mechanics entered the local trowel 
and knife works during the summer, and later apprenticed himself at the 
South Boston Locomotive Works, where he was trained to work upon marine 
engines during the latter part of the Civil war. He became a master mechanic 
at nineteen, and the following winter accepted an offer to take charge of the 
machinery of a Cuban sugar plantation. Arriving at Philadelphia, however, 
he secured the position of foreman at the Pennsylvania Railroad Repair Shops, 
and after working about six months had accumulated $100, which he carried 
in his pocket. On returning to his boarding house after an evening's walk the 
money was missing. He gave up the Cuban plan, and, working long enough to 
earn money to pay his way, arrived in Chicago in the spring of 1867. After 
two years' work at his trade he returned to Philadelphia and entered the Penn- 
sylvania College of Dental Surgery, where he was graduated in 1872. returning, 
to Chicago to commence the practice of his profession. In 1878 he entered 
Rush Medical College, whence he graduated in 1880. With the belief that 
dentistry should occupy the plane it deserved as a specialty of medicine, he, in 
i88t, with other dental scientists, secured three radical changes in the medical 



82 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

relations of dental surgery : Chairs on Dental and Oral Surgery were estab- 
lished in the five medical colleges of Chicago. The Section of Stomatology 
was created in the American Medical Association. The Chicago Dental 
Infirmary was established, whereby the students were enabled to take a regular 
medical course in instruction, to have special dental instruction in the Dental 
Infirmary, and to be graduated in Medicine. This last, however, was not a 
permanent success. In the spring of 1881 he was elected Professor of Dental 
Surgery in the Chicago Medical College, and in the Woman's Medical Col- 
lege, and Lecturer on Dental Pathology and Surgery in Rush Medical Col- 
lege. From professional exigencies he was unable to accept the Chicago Med- 
ical College professorship. He accepted the chair in Rush and the Woman's 
Medical College. He has always urged a medical education for dental students, 
and has left no stone unturned in the advocacy of this, believing that no scien- 
tific progress could be made without a broad knowledge thus obtained. The 
necessity has in consequence become more and more recognized. 

Dr. Talbot was a delegate to the Seventh International Medical Congress, 
which met in 1881 in London, and to the Ninth International Medical Congress, 
which met in Washington in 1887. He was Honorary President of the Tenth 
International Medical Congress, which met in Berlin in 1890. and Honorary 
President of the Twelfth International Medical Congress, Moscow. 1897. 
He was a member of the Thirteenth International Medical Congress, held 
in Paris, 1900; Secretary of the Section on Dental and Buccal Surgery, at the 
Pan-American Medical Congress, Havana, February 4, 1901. Through his 
scientific researches he was elected Fellow of the Chicago Academy of Medi 
cine in 1892 (and has been a director of that body for seven years), and a 
member of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. His researches have been 
recognized abroad by his election as an honorary member of the Odonto- 
logischen Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany, the Association Generale des Den- 
tistes de France, Paris, France, and Sociedad Odontological Espanola. Mad- 
rid, Spain, as well as many local and State societies in this country, and cor- 
responding member of the Dansk-Tandlaegerforening. being elected in 1901. 
He has been Secretary of the Section on Stomatology of the American Medi- 
cal Association (of which he was one of the founders) for the past sixteen 
years. He was secretary of the Dental and Oral Section of the Pan-American 
Medical Congress, which met in Washington in 1893. and member of the 
World's Columbian Dental Congress, which met in Chicago in 1893. 

Dr. Talbot has made the following literary contributions to science : 
"The Irregularities of the Teeth," first edition. 1888. "The Irregularities of 
the Teeth," second edition, 1890. "Chart of Typical Forms of Irregularities 
of the Teeth," .1891. "The Etiology of Osseous Deformities of the Head. 
Face, Jaws and Teeth," third edition, 1894. "Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 83 

and Results" (London), 1898. Interstitial Gingivitis or So-called Pyorrhoea 
Alveolaris," 1899. "Irregularities of the Teeth," fourth edition, 1901. 
Papers: "Education, Dental Colleges," Dental Cosmos, 1876; "Mercury, 
Chemical and Physiological Action of Fillings on the System," Dental Cosmos, 
1879. "Preparation of Nerve-canals for Treatment and Fillings," Dental 
Cosmos, October, 1880. "Gold Crowns," Dental Cosmos, September, 1880. 
"Screws for Artificial Crowns," Dental Cosmos, March, 1881. "Treatment 
and Filling of Approximal Cavities," Dental Cosmos, December, 1881. "The 
Regulation of Teeth by Direct Pressure," Dental Cosmos, November, 1881. 
"Dental Regulating Apparatus," Dental Cosmos, May, 1885. "Spreading 
the Dental Arch," Dental Cosmos, January, 1886. "Regulating Individual 
Teeth," Dental Cosmos, May, 1886. "Pyorrhoea Alveolaris," first paper, 
Dental Cosmos, November, 1886. "The Etiology of Irregularities of the 
Teeth," Journal American Medical Association, May, 1888. "Arrest of 
Development of the Maxillary Bone, clue to Race Crossing, Climate and 
Soil," Journal American Medical Association, June, 1888. "Development of 
the Inferior Maxilla by Exercise, and Asymmetry of the Lateral Halves of the 
Maxillary Bones," Journal American Medical Association, 1888. 
"Asymmetry of the Maxillary Bones," Journal American Medical 
Association, 1888. "The Alveolar Process," Journal American Med- 
ical Association, 1888. "The Origin and Development of the V 
and Saddle Arches and Kindred Irregularities of the Teeth," Journal 
American Medical Association, 1889. The Above Concluded, Journal Ameri- 
can Medical Association, 1889. "Classification of Typical Irregularities of 
the Maxillje and Teeth," Dental Cosmos, August, 1889. "Statistics of 
Constitutional and Development Irregularities of the Jaws and Teeth of 
Normal, Idiotic, Deaf and Dumb, Blind and Insane Persons," Dental Cosmos, 
July. 1889. "Fallacies of Some of the Old Theories of Irregularities of 
Teeth, with some remarks on Diagnosis and Treatment," Dental Cosmos, 
March, 1890. "The Teeth and Jaws of a Party of Cave and Cliff-Dwellers," 
Dental Cosmos, May, 1890. "The Differentiation of Anterior Protrusions of 
the Upper Maxilla and Teeth," International Medical Congress, Berlin, 
Dental Cosmos, August, 1890. "Mouth-Breathing Not the Cause of Con- 
tracted Jaws and High Vaults," 1891. "Management of Dental Societies," 
Dental Cosmos, January, 1891. "Studies of Criminals," Alienist and Neurol- 
ogist, October, 1891. "Scientific Investigation of the Cranium and Jajvs," 
Dental Cosmos, May, 1891. "Evidence of Somatic Origin of Inebriety." 
Journal of Inebriety, July, 1891. "A study of the Degeneracy of the Jaws 
of the Human Race," Dental Cosmos, 1892. "Empyema of the Antrum.*' 
Journal American Medical Association, 1893. "The Vault in Its Relation to 
the Jaws and Nose," Dental Practitioner and Advertiser, October, 1894. 



84 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

"Stigmata of Degeneracy in the Aristocracy and Regicides," Journal Ameri- 
can Medical Association, November, 1894. "The Degenerate Ear," Journal 
American Medical Association, January, 1895. "Pyorrhoea Alveolaris," sec- 
ond paper, International Dental Journal, Dental Cosmos, 1896. "Dental and 
Facial Evidences of Constitutional Defect," International Dental Journal, 
May, 1896. "H. H. Holmes," Journal American Medical Association, 
August, 1896. "Pyorrhoea Alveolaris, third paper, Journal American Medi- 
cal Association, 1896. "Degeneracy of the Teeth and Jaws," Journal Ameri- 
can Medical Association, 1896. "Oral Hygiene," Twelfth International Medi- 
cal Congress, Moscow, 1897. "Auto-Intoxication in Its Medical and Surgical 
Relations to the Jaws and Teeth," Journal American Medical Association, 
April 17, 1897. "Pyorrhoea Alveolaris, in Mercurial and Lead Poisoning 
and Scurvy," fourth paper, Journal American Medical Association, 1898. 
"Degeneracy in Its Relations to Deformities of the Jaws and Irregularities of 
the Teeth," Chicago Dental Review, 1898. "A Study of the Stigmata of 
Degeneracy Among the American Criminal Youth," Journal American Medi- 
cal Association, 1898. "Irregularities of the Dental Arch," 1898. "A Study 
of the Deformities of the Jaws Among the Degenerate Classes of Europe," 
International Dental Journal, January, 1898. "Inheritance of Circumcision 
Effects," Medicine, June, 1898. "What Became of the Dauphin Louis XYII? 
A Study in Dental Jurisprudence," Medicine, June, 1899. "Interstitial 
Gingivitis Due to Auto-Intoxication," International Dental Journal, Feb- 
ruary, 1900. "Traitement de la Pyorrhie Alveolo-dentaire," Thirteenth Inter- 
national Medical Congress, Paris, 1900. "The Intervention of Therapeusis 
in Anomalies of Position and Direction of the Teeth," Thirteenth Interna- 
tional Medical Congress, Paris, 1900. "Limitations in Dental Educa- 
tion," Section in Stomatology, American Medical Association, June, 1900. 
"Interstitial Gingivitis from Indigestion Auto-Intoxication." Section on 
Stomatology, American Medical Association, June 5, 1900. "Interstitial 
Gingivitis as a Prominent Obvious Early Symptom of Auto-Intoxication and 
Drug Poisoning," Chicago Medical Society, February 13. 1901. "Peridental 
Abscess," New York State Dental Society, May, 1901. "Degeneracy of the 
Dental Pulp," Section on Stomatology, American Medical Association, June. 

1901. "Degeneracy and Political Assassination," Medicine, December. 1901. 
"The Higher Plane of Dentistry," Revue de Stomatologic, Paris. 1902. 
"Juvenile Female Delinquents," The Alienist and Neurologist, i90i-'02. 
"Stigmata of Degeneracy," The Medical Examiner and Practitioner. March. 

1902. "Deformities of the Bones of the Nose and Face." The Laryngoscope, 
1902. "Evolution of the Pulp." Journal American Medical Association. 
1902. "Why Dentists do not Read." International Dental Journal. 1903. 
"How far do Stomatologic Indications warrant Constitutional Treatment?" 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 85 

International Dental Journal, 1903. "Syphilitic Interstitial Gingivitis," In- 
ternational Dental Journal, 1903. "Gum Massage," International Dental 
Journal, 1903. "The Vaso-Motor System of the Pulp," Journal American 
Medical Association, 1903. "Recognition of the D. D. S. degree by the 
American Medical Association," Dental Journals, 1903. "What the Physi- 
cian or Surgeon should know of Dentistry," Illinois Medical Bulletin, 1903. 
"Pathogeny of Osteomalacia or Senile Atrophy," The Dental Digest, Septem- 
ber, 1903. "Endarteritis Obliterans and Hypertrophy of the Arterial Coats," 
The Dental Digest, October, 1903. "Buccal Expressions of Constitutional 
States," Medicine, October, 1903. "Constitutional Causes of Tooth Decay," 
The Dental Digest, December, 1903. "Pathology of Root Absorption and 
Alveolar Process," The Dental Digest, March, 1904. "The Relations of the 
Nose and Genitalia," Medicine, April, 1904. 

Of these contributions to science, the works on Degeneracy, Interstitial 
Gingivitis and Irregularities of the Teeth have attracted world-wide atten- 
tion. All three works originated in researches upon the causes of irregu- 
larities of the jaws and teeth. These have received extended commendation 
from leading European, Continental, British and American dental, medical 
and scientific journals. The value to science of Dr. Talbot's contributions 
has beeii widely recognized by colleges, universities and institutions of scienti- 
fic research which placed his works in their libraries. The colleges have 
evinced a further recognition by conferring M. S. and LL. D. degrees. 

Dr. Talbot was married by Rev. Robert Collyer and Prof. David Swing 
in 1876, to Miss Flora Estey, the daughter of Mr. Willis Estey, formerly of 
Dover, New Hampshire, and has three children, two daughters and one son. 
He is a Unitarian in faith, and has been a member of Unity (Robert Coll- 
yer's) Church for the past thirty-five years, and is now one of its trustees. 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., the father of the American Medical Association, 
says of Dr. Eugene S. Talbot : "Dr. Talbot is not only an eminent scientific 
practitioner- and teacher of stomatology, but is likewise an excellent example 
of the modest, unassuming, thorough scholar (industrious, indefatigable in 
prosecuting investigation of an original character within his professional 
field), as evidenced by his numerous and valuable contributions. Dr. Talbot's 
book on Degeneracy indicates great industry on the part of the author and 
contains a great variety of facts worthy of careful study. This is likewise 
shown in his works on Interstitial Gingivitis and in allied departments of 
dental science. These works are monuments of extended research, acuteness 
of perception and original systematic investigation, that entitle him to a 
place on the list of those who make important additions to the sum or aggre- 
gate of human knowledge. The work on Interstitial Gingivitis is admirably 



86 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

illustrated by numerous photographs and micro-photographs and is a credit 
to its publishers." 

Dr. John Ridlon, Secretary of the Northwestern University Woman's 
Medical School, pays Dr. Talbot the following tribute: "For some reason, 
I know not what, one does not expect from a dentist anything beyond skill in 
the mechanical work of his profession. In accrediting Dr. E. S. Talbot with 
more than this skill one is mentioning the best of the qualities that entitle him 
to appear in this Group of Eminent Medical Men. Dr. Talbot was one of 
the first dentists to teach his specialty in a regular medical school in Chicago 
as a required part of a medical education. As a teacher he has been eminently 
successful. It is, however, because of his original work in dental pathology 
that has placed him high in his profession and because of his investigations 
and writings on degeneracy that his narfle has become familiar to scientists 
the world over." 

Dr. Henry M. Lyman, an eminent Chicago neurologist, says of Dr. 
Talbot : "Dr. Talbot is a very honest, straightforward man, a close student, 
a keen observer and the author of 'Degeneracy' and other valuable works." 

Dr. H. M. Bannister, a widely noted neurologist of Chicago, says : 
"Dr. Eugene S. Talbot, who is best known to his fellow citizens as an. able 
dentist and successful business man, is better known to the scientific world as 
one of the first American authorities on anthropology, especially in its patho- 
logical aspects. His first extensive work was a treatise on the irregularities of 
the jaws and teeth, published in 1888. This work treated the subject from the 
standpoint of a scientific dentist, and became a leading text-book and work 
on reference for dental students and practitioners. It gave the author a high 
professional standing, but the study was so suggestive that he amplified it in 
1894 into the much larger work on the 'Etiology of Osseous Deformities of 
the Head, Face, Jaws and Teeth.' a work covering the whole range of the 
congenital defects of the most important region of the body, as regards the 
evidences of degeneracy and degenerative stigmata. This work gave its 
author at once a high standing among scientific writers, and has received the 
highest commendatory notices in scientific journals at home and abroad. His 
next work of importance was 'Degeneracy, Its Signs. Causes and Results." 
published in the Contemporary Scientific Series, which is a semi-popular but 
scientific treatment of the subject of human defects that had been already 
discussed in its scientific aspects as regards cranial and facial defects in his 
former work. This volume maintains his reputation as a thinker and author, 
though in its popular style and special scope it is less a work of scientific refer- 
ence than is the earlier volume. 

"Dr. Talbot is also the author of numerous papers in scientific and medi- 
cal journals and his researches on criminal anthropology comprise the most 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 87 

thorough work that has been done in this line in this country. The studies on 
juvenile criminals of the eastern and western reformatories are to be espe- 
cially mentioned in this connection. With all his scientific work he has not 
neglected his own specialty, as his book on Interstitial Gingivitis or so-called 
Pyorrhoea Alveolaris shows, a work that easily takes the lead among the 
treatises on that disorder in scientific thorough study of the subject. To 
enumerate his separate articles would fill more space than can here be given. 
He is an honorary member of numerous learned and professional bodies here 
and abroad, and it is safe to say that there is no other American dentist who 
has a higher scientific international reputation. To his neighbors and patients 
much of his life work is entirely unknown and probably many of the purely 
practical members of his own profession have little idea of the outside work 
he has done and the wide reputation he has thus obtained." 

Dr. James G. Kiernan, a leading Chicago neurologist, says : "There 
has been observable a law in biology as well as in other departments of science 
that certain broad principles culminate in evolution at the same time. This 
law has been peculiarly well illustrated in the contributions to the biologic 
department of medicine by Dr. E. S. Talbot. During the last three decades 
of the Nineteenth century the evolutionary phase of medicine has been pecu- 
liarly emphasized by the arrested phase illustrated in degeneracy. The arrested 
and progressive phases of evolution on which the great biologist John Hunter 
laid such stress have been so extended by the researches of Dr. Eugene S. Tal- 
bot that the great physiologist would have rejoiced that the laws he laid down 
in the eighteenth century should a century later have been so strongly empha- 
sized in 'Degeneracy, Its Causes, Signs and Results,' by Dr. Eugene S. 
Talbot." 

Dr. Nicholas Senn, a leading American Surgical Pathologist, writes of 
Dr. Talbot as follows: "Dr. Talbot has won a well-merited eminence by his 
original researches. He is a widely known author and a man of whom 
Chicago may well be proud." 

Dr. W. A. Evans, Professor of Pathology, College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, Pathologist, Columbus Medical Laboratory, says : "In searching 
for qualities responsible for the rise of Dr. Talbot, one prominently encoun- 
ters two of paramount importance. The first of these is energy, the second 
persistence. He is one of the most energetic men whom I know, energetic 
both mentally and physically, but especially mentally. In my opinion, 'per- 
haps, a greater element in his success has been his persistence — the fact that 
when he undertakes a thing he carries it out to all the best of his ability, 
despite opposition. He never turns back. His mind is of the actively advanc- 
ing turn which passes quickly from the solution of one problem to other prob- 
lems arising from such solution." 



88 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Dr. W. F. Waugh says of Dr. Talbot : "Dr. Talbot, like the late Dr. 
Garretson, is one of those men who do not believe that the sum total of the 
activeness of a dentist is comprised in poking bits of gold into hollow teeth. 
His ripe scholarship, his turn for original investigation, and the grasp of a 
strongly logical intellect, have been shown in the literary work which has 
honored the dental profession of Chicago. As a conversationalist Dr. Talbot 
is one of the most charming of men. There is something peculiar to the 
dental profession, which seems to develop inventive genius ; probably no occu- 
pation is credited with as many useful inventions as the dental, and this 
tendency to originality of thought is perhaps one of the things which makes 
the best of that profession such pleasant companions." 

Dr. Ludwig Hektoen, Professor of Pathology in Rush Medical College, 
says : "The scientific work of Dr. Eugene S. Talbot shows that he is 
endowed with a pronounced faculty for original research coupled with per- 
sistent energy along certain lines of thought. He has made numerous contri- 
butions to medical and dental literature, throwing light upon disputed points. 
His work upon the absorption of bone of the alveolar process in diseases of 
the peridental membrane is very complete and interesting. He has classified 
in a comprehensive manner the diseases of the gums and jaws due to local and 
systemic causes. Perhaps he is best known generally by his works on 
Irregularities of the Teeth ; Chart of Typical Deformities of the Jaws : Degen- 
eracy, Its Causes, Signs and Results." 

Dr. J. H. Salisbury, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Chemistry, 
Rush Medical College, in affiliation with the University of Chicago, writes 
of Dr. Talbot : "Dr. Talbot has been from the beginning of his career an 
enthusiastic scientific worker. His investigations have been remarkable for 
thoroughness and for the fact that they have not been confined to the dental 
field. His work on Interstitial Gingivitis is an example of painstaking, 
scientific investigation of a medical subject that may well be emulated br- 
other workers in the same field and is a credit to American Dentistry." 

Dr. Walter S. Haines. Professor of Chemistry in Rush Medical College, 
says of Dr. Talbot : "Dr. Talbot's eminent position as a scientific practitioner 
of dentistry, as an original investigator and as a writer, is well known. Out- 
side of these fields, however, he has done extremely valuable work, especially 
in connection with the advancement of dental education. For more than 
twenty years he has earnestly advocated, both by precept and example, raising 
the standard of the education of dentists, and the great advance in this line 
that has been made in this country in the past two decades is due in no small 
degree to his persistent and well-directed efforts. This work, in my opinion, 
has been, if not quite, almost his most valuable contribution to the scientific 
world." 




/^r/r/U^H^n^^^ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 89 

HENRY PARKER NEWMAN, A. M., M. D. 

No other profession has accomplished, during the last half century, the 
progress and development that have been made by the medical. This has not 
been the work of those who become learned by knowledge obtained from 
books, or the experiences of a past generation, but by those who rise to new 
occasions, who think in new lines and who do new things. The man of 
original thought and action, whose tex^ Oook forms but the basis of future 
work, moves forward and takes his profession with him. He becomes a 
leader, and those that follow reap lasting benefit from his work. Such a man 
is Henry Parker Newman, the distinguished physician, surgeon and author 
of Chicago. 

New England claims him by birth and education, as he was born in 
Washington, New Hampshire, December 2, 1853, son of James and Abby 
(Everett) Newman, and grandson of James Madison Newman. After a pre- 
liminary training in the New London (N. H.) Literary and Scientific Insti- 
tute, he began, in 1874, to read medicine under Dr. George Cook, of Concord. 
He attended his first lectures at Dartmouth College, which afterward honored 
him with the degree of A. M. He entered the Detroit College of Medicine, 
graduating in March, 1878. His studious habits and his logical reasoning 
attracted the notice of the Faculty, and he won much praise for his thorough 
painstaking work. During his senior year he was House Physician at St. 
Luke's Hospital, Detroit. After receiving his degree in medicine he spent 
two years' study in Germany, in the Universities of Strasburg, Leipsic and 
Bonn. Upon his return to America, he located for the general practice of his 
profession in Chicago. 

Thorough preparation, careful research and an alert mind equipped him 
well for the successful path he has trod, and his genial manner has won 
friends wherever he goes. His rise in his profession has been rapid, as it is 
deserved. For some time he was President of the Post Graduate Medical 
School. At the present time he is a director of the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, of which institution he has been an active promoter since its organ- 
ization in 1 88 1, and where he holds the Chair of Gynecology and Clinical 
Gynecology; and Professor of Diseases of Women in the Chicago Policlinic. 
He is also connected with the staffs of several hospitals, among them being : 
Surgeon in the Department of Diseases of Women in the Policlinic and 
West Side Hospitals; President and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Marion Sims 
Hospital; and Consulting Gynecologist at the Maternity and St. Anthony's 
Hospitals and the Alma (Michigan) Sanitarium. He has been for some 
years Medical Referee for the Department of the Northwest and Chief Medi- 
cal Examiner in this city for the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. 



go A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Among the various medical fraternities Dr. Newman stands very high, 
his professional brethren admiring not only his ability in his profession, but 
also his winning personality and his marvelous executive ability. He belongs 
to the Chicago Medical Society; Chicago Pathological Society: Chicago 
Gynecological Society; Illinois State Medical Society; American Medical 
Association, of which he is treasurer ; American Academy of Medicine ; Pan- 
American Congress; and International Medical Congress; Periodical Con- 
gress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, of which he was one of the 
founders. 

Dr. Newman has contributed largely to the medical literature of the day, 
and articles from his pen are always welcomed by publishers, who feel sure of 
pleasing their patrons by papers so clearly and concisely written, and so filled 
with items of great interest to the profession. His original work includes 
abdominal and pelvic, major and plastic, gynecological and obstetrical sur- 
gery, and he has devised many new operations and instruments. 



ROBERT LAUGHLIN REA, M. D. 

The career of the late Dr. Rea affords a striking proof of the possible 
triumph of determination over drawbacks, of perseverance over poverty, and 
of talent over trials. While in no sense a pioneer in his profession, he was 
himself the axeman who blazed out the path from the plowhandle to the pro- 
fessor's chair, from obscurity to fame. Virginia, to which commonwealth 
the country at large owes many of its most eminent sons, was the State of his 
birth, he having been born in Rockbridge county, in the ''Old Dominion." on 
July I, 1827. Until he had reached the age of fifteen years his only educa- 
tional advantages were those afforded by the poorly taught, meagerlv equip- 
ped country schools of three-quarters of a century ago. He had scarcely 
passed his seventeenth birthday when he resolved to follow the course oi emi- 
gration and woo fortune in the West. Fayette county, Indiana, was his first 
objective point, and there he made his home with Absalom Manlove and his 
wife, to whom he was related by ties of consanguinity. Mrs. Manlove (nee 
Mary Rea), being his cousin. They were endowed with innate nobility of 
character, and their assistance and encouragement proved of inestimable 
worth to their young kinsman. In later years he led their daughter. Permelia 
Mellie, to the altar, and throughout his long and useful life, and when honors 
were heaped high upon his head, he never failed to recognize the prominent 
part in his career which was played by her unselfish devotion, her loving 
sympathy, her wise counsels and her practical help. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 91 

The young man's life in that new country was one of hard work, but 
felling trees in the "pathless woods" and guiding the plow through virgin soil 
developed those magnificent physical powers for which he was afterward re- 
nowned, and built up that strong constitution which enabled him to work so 
long and so assiduously for his fellow men. Through the influence of his 
cousins he secured an appointment as teacher of a country school, a position 
for which his natural disposition well fitted him and which he filled for five 
years. While thus engaged he began the study of that profession of which he 
was destined to become so conspicuous an ornament, his preceptor being Dr. 
W. P. Kitchen, of Brownsville, Indiana. In 1851 he began practice, at Ox- 
ford, Ohio, taking up his residence there on September 17th of that year. 
Feeling the need of a broader professional training, he entered the Medical 
College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, graduating with distinction from that institu- 
tion in 1855. No sooner had he received his degree than he was made Dem- 
onstrator of Anatomy in his Alma Mater and about the same time appointed 
resident physician at the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati. He was young 
to have been chosen to discharge the serious duties attaching to these respon- 
sible posts, yet he had even then manifested a mental vigor and a capacity for 
hard and skillful work which abundantly justified his selection. His connec- 
tion with the hospital terminated at the end of one year, although he remained 
a member of the college Faculty during three terms. He resumed his practice 
at Oxford, and while living there he delivered courses of lecturers on Ana- 
tomy and Physiology before the young ladies of the Western Female Semi- 
nary, of which he was a trustee. 

The fame of the young physician, however, had extended beyond the 
borders of his adopted State, and at the personal solicitation of the late emi- 
nent Dr. Brainard he consented to accept the proffered Chair of Anatomy at 
Rush Medical College, Chicago, a position which he filled for sixteen years 
without the loss of a single lecture hour. At the end of that time he severed 
his connection with Rush, and afterward assumed a similar relation to the 
Chicago Medical College, and in 1882 became one of the founders of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, in whose Faculty he was Professor of 
Surgery. 

In this connection it is of interest to quote the following estimate of his 
rare talent as an instructor from the pen of Dr. I. N. Danforth, himself one of 
Chicago's most honored practitioners : "Dr. Rea was like himself and like 
no one else. He was a strong character, altogether self-dependent; asking 
advice of nobody, but pushing ahead in obedience to his own iron will. As a 
teacher of anatomy he was great, perhaps not excelled by any teacher in 
America. It was impossible to attend his lecturers and not learn anatomy. 
He was admired rather than loved by students, but in after years — after they 



92 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

had measured up toward his colossal proportions — they began to love him. 
No more powerful mind has adorned the medical profession of Chicago than 
that of Professor R. L. Rea." 

To this may be added the testimony of the celebrated Dr. N. S. Davis, 
Sr. : "He was a strong, generous, open-hearted man ; one of the most thorough 
and successful teachers of anatomy that we had in the country ; a man of good 
impulses, and more successful, both as a physician and a surgeon, than the 
average. He was always popular with the students and had the faculty of 
imparting his knowledge to others." 

In the same vein is the tribute to his memory and his worth from Dr. 
Archibald Church, of Chicago, who was devotedly constant in his attention to 
the late physician during his last illness: "Dr. Rea," said Dr. Church, '"was 
perhaps the most forceful teacher of anatomy that ever addressed a class. His 
magnificent physique, the ardor of his enthusiasm, the very peculiarity of his 
manner, enforced attention, and fixed his instructions in a remarkable way." 

For four years he filled the Chair of Surgery in the young college, when 
he resigned his professorship, after forty years of consecutive experience as 
a teacher. Repeated illustrations of the veneration and love in which he was 
held by those who had been privileged to listen to his instructions were af- 
forded on a trip made by himself and Mrs. Rea to the Pacific coast not many 
years before his death. At every halting place in their journey the Doctor 
and his wife were made the recipients of distinguished attention by his former 
pupils, their families and friends. In vain did they seek that unostentatious 
quiet which was dearest to his heart. Early and late they were besieged by 
visitors, whose eager desire to do them honor refused to be checked. 

In addition to his engagements at the seats of learning named. Dr. Rea 
carried on a large and lucrative private practice, and was for a third of a cen- 
tury surgeon-in-chief to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. As a practi- 
tioner he was firm yet tender, resolute although sympathetic. Never hesitat- 
ing to adopt heroic treatment when his trained eye and ripe experience indi- 
cated its necessity, he ever brought to the bedside of a sufferer his own gentle 
nature and a mind filled with pure and tender sentiments. He himself well 
expressed the rule of his professional life in these admonitory words to a 
class of students: "Be kind and cheerful.*' he said, "with your patients; 
kind without offensively patronizing them, and cheerful without being light. 
How much it soothes the sharp pangs of suffering to have kind and gentle 
words from the sympathizing physician. Every twinge seems lighter for 
these cheap sedatives. Your sympathy need not unnerve your skill. Kind 
and considerate sympathy is entirely compatible with the highest skill 
and the coolest and most determined resolution. You can stop the crim- 
son flow with one hand and have the other free to chafe the aching brow."* 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 93 

In private life he was, as Dr. Church has said of him, "generous to a fault 
with his friends, but impatient with the vices and follies of mankind. Nu- 
merous instances of self-sacrifice endeared him in no ordinary degree to a 
large number of people, while his outspoken opposition to everything he con- 
sidered unjust or low-minded made him a terror to the evil doer." Perhaps 
outside of these traits — deep devotion to humanity and earnest desire to be 
helpful — his most pronounced characteristics were moral courage and an un- 
swerving fidelity to truth. To the young men under his care, for whose 
future he felt himself in a partial degree responsible, he was wont to emphasize 
those principles which constituted the rule of his own life. "Cultivate," he 
said to them, "thorough frankness and honesty in all your intercourse with 
your patients and professional friends. What so becoming, so desirable, to 
one who has taken such a place in the affections and interests of those com- 
mitted to him as thorough affection and candor? To have your patients feel 
that you are the unselfish friend and counselor, the candid communicant of 
all, whether good or ill for them, will give them the kind of trust in you 
which will give your words the weight they merit. How much is there to 
admire and desire in one in whom thorough integrity and candor are proverb- 
ial qualities !" 

One noteworthy instance of his heroic courage and generous enthusiasm 
for the right may be related in this connection. A Southern girl, of rare 
beauty and high intellectual ability, came to the Oxford Seminary as a pupil 
while Dr. Rea was connected with that then famous institution. She was the 
daughter of a wealthy planter and had many admirers, finally becoming the 
fiancee of a young gentleman of Oxford. Gradually it became known (the 
information coming from her Southern home) that she was an octoroon. 
Her lover, on hearing of the illegitimacy of her birth and the taint of negro 
blood in her veins, broke the engagement. Her father, came to visit her, and 
Dr. Rea attended him while stricken with cholera. The disease proved fatal 
and the dying man named his faithful physician as executor of his will. At 
no little personal risk the fearless man conveyed the body to its final resting 
place beneath a Southern sky, and brought back the two sisters of the unhappy 
girl whom he had left at Oxford, all having been made beneficiaries under a 
joint legacy of $3,000. To obviate in a measure the danger of his charges 
being wrested from his protection as fugitive slaves, the Doctor set out with 
them under the cover of darkness for a point where the party might safely 
take a train. His mode of conveyance was a rowboat, and he himself was the 
oarsman, who propelled and guided the little craft through the swirling waters 
of a freshet which left only the tree tops visible and whose swollen current was 
carrying down all descriptions of debris from submerged homes. Oberlin was 
finally reached in safety, and there the two girls were safely installed in a 



9 4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

reputable home. At least one of the sisters was happily married, and it goes 
without saying that the executor's trust was administered with scrupulous 
fidelity. 

During the war of the Rebellion Dr. Rea, at considerable personal sacrifice, 
entered the Federal service as army surgeon. The celebrated Robert Collyer, 
of New York, then a chaplain, served by his side, and often acted as a hospital 
nurse under the surgeon's directions. In one of the clergyman's works 
appears the following glowing yet well merited tribute to the skill and gentle- 
ness of one whose kindly heart no less than his attainments commanded at 
once respect and love. "When I went to Fort Donelson to nurse our wounded 
it was my good fortune to be the personal attendant of a gentleman whose skill 
as a surgeon was only equaled by the wonderfully deep loving tenderness of 
his heart, as it thrilled in every tone of his voice and every touch of his hand. 
And it all comes to me now ; how he would come to the men, fearfully mangled 
as they were, and how the nerve would shrink and creep, and how with a wise, 
hard, steady skill he would cut to save life, forcing back tears of pity only that 
he might keep his eye clear for the delicate duty, speaking low words of cheer 
in tones heavy with tenderness; tben, when all was over, and the poor fellows 
fainting with pain knew that all was done that could be done, and done only 
with a severity whose touch was love, how they would look after the man as 
he went away, sending unspoken benedictions to attend him." 

The management of his pecuniary affairs Dr. Rea entrusted largely to the 
faithful wife who was for so long his helpmeet. He saw a competence con- 
sumed in the holocaust of 1871, but with such signal ability, rare discernment 
and sound business sense did his wife manage the slender remnants of his 
fortune, and his subsequent accumulations, that before his death he saw his 
wealth multiplied many times. In the drawing of his last testament he ex- 
hibited that broad, sympathetic regard for humanity which was the guiding 
principle of his entire life. After providing amply for his widow and liberally 
for sixteen nieces and nephews he made provision for the endowment of the 
"Rea Professorship of Anatomy"' in the Medical Department of the North- 
western University; bequeathed $5,000 to the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, the income to be devoted toward defraying the support of four students 
each year, and named as residuary legatees the Illinois Nurses' Association, 
the Illinois Training School for Boys, the Home for Self Supporting Women 
and the Illinois Humane Society. 

It was on July 10, 1899, that this great man entered into his final rest. 
Great as an educator, physician and surgeon, he was greater as a man in 
whose heart God had stamped His own image. His death resulted from a 
complication of cerebral and kidney disorders. He was buried at Crown Hill 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 95 

cemetery, Indianapolis, and in accordance with his repeatedly expressed wish 
the interment was at the hour of sunset. Such men are like forest trees in their 
golden autumn tints — grandest in their seeming decay; and to do justice to 
their lives the pencil should be dipped in the golden hues of a western sky. The 
radiance of the moral sunset lingers after the earthly course is run ; and a man's 
influence survives death. 

Dr. Senn says of him : "Dr. Rea was a strong man mentally and phys- 
ically, the best teacher of anatomy we have ever had. He was highly esteemed 
by his colleagues and an honest gentleman." 

Dr. Christian Fenger said of Dr. Rea : "Dr. Rea was the greatest anato- 
mist and teacher of anatomy Chicago has ever had. All his pupils remember 
him with admiration." 

Dr. Brower, one of his most intimate friends and associates, adds : "Dr. 
R. L. Rea was a man of extraordinary physical and mental strength, yet no 
woman had more tenderness than he had. I have more than once seen tears in 
his eyes during consultations over his patients. No man was ever more honest 
and conscientious in his discharge of his professional duties than he was. He 
was a great teacher of anatomy, the greatest Chicago has ever produced, and he 
was as successful in the practice of his profession. His great big manly form 
with its gentleness was intensely loved by his large clientele." 

Dr. Quine writes : "Dr. Robert L. Rea was a strong character and of 
very impressive personality. He was one of the greatest teachers of anatomy, 
perhaps the greatest teacher of anatomy, Chicago has ever had, and was 
almost idolized by his students. As a man of affairs he was not surpassed by 
any member of the medical profession of Chicago of his time. He had an ex- 
tensive professional following and his people were strongly attached to him. 
I have always believed that his withdrawal from the Faculty of Rush Medical 
College was a sad mistake. The alumni of that school were his dearest 
friends." 

We can no better conclude this article than with the eulogy from the pen 
of Dr. Frank Billings., who wrote : "It was my good fortune to meet and 
gain the friendship of Professor Robert L. Rea the first day of my medical col- 
lege career. It was the first year of his work at the Chicago Medical College. 
He had severed his connection with Rush Medical College the preceding year, 
where for twenty or more years he had taught anatomy to the great delight and 
profit of the students. Students he always termed 'my boys,' and. he did 
indeed assume a parental power over all of us, class after class of the many, 
many years of his college work. Parental he was in his kind, generous, encour- 
aging and commanding way ; giving a smile and a pat of approval for earnest 
good work, and an unrelenting, firm and yet kind disapproval of poor prepara- 
tion or- stupid blundering work. The boy who did not know Gray from cover 
to cover when the term was clone was a black sheep. 



96 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

"Professor Rea had a method of teaching anatomy which was peculiarly 
his own. He was full of enthusiasm and when in the arena his grand com- 
manding presence filled and brightened the old lecture hall. Every student was 
on the alert to meet the steady stream of descriptive word pictures which the 
giant in the arena drew and fixed in the minds of every student before him. He 
had no stories to tell, but was full of business anatomy from start to finish. 

"In private practice his personality was just as strong as in the lecture 
room. His patients loved him. He never spoke harshly to a patient. I have 
heard him say, 'the man who will become angry or abuse a patient, or speak 
harshly to a parturient woman, is a knave and deserves a beating.' 

"Surgery was his choice in practice, and his knowledge of anatomy made 
him a skillful and dextrous operator. He seized upon all the rapidly increasing 
innovations in surgery of twenty years ago and adopted them, for his scientific 
spirit caught and adopted the sensible ideas of aseptic and clean surgery even 
in those days. 

"He was a man of strong convictions. He hated vice and stamped it out 
at any opportunity. He was a man of strong convictions and consequently 
had enemies. These he hated as cordially as he loved his horde of friends. 
Professor Rea was a great man, and his stamp will remain upon the profession 
of medicine of the West forever. Thousands of his students are scattered 
over the great West, many of them old men now, and they all look back to the 
student days with special love and admiration for the man who made of the 
usually stupid, dry and musty subject of anatomy a romance full of interesting 
incidents and never to be forgotten practical facts. 

"The methods of teaching anatomy have changed ; the didactic demonstra- 
tion lecture has given place to laboratory methods in anatomy as in the prac- 
tical branches of medicine. The many brilliant lectures of the past would be 
lost now, but we must praise the grand men who by their eloquence and 
strong personality taught, by the best methods of that day. the many subjects 
of medicine and surgery. 

"In that brilliant throng Professor Rea stands in the front rank, a 
noble, generous giant in body and mind."' 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 97 

ARCHIBALD CHURCH, M. D. 

As an eminently successful physician in the treatment of Nervous and 
Mental Diseases Dr. Church ranks foremost among the specialists in his 
line in the city of Chicago. He is a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, born 
March 23, 1861, son of George W. and Susan Church, who were of Eng- 
lish birth. The Doctor received his early education in the public schools, 
subsequently studying two years in the University of Wisconsin. Then he 
entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, from which he was 
graduated in 1884. The year of his graduation Dr. Church was. appointed 
Assistant Physician on the Medical Staff of the Illinois State Hospital for 
the Insane, at Elgin, Illinois, and continued in that service four years. Fol- 
lowing this he studied abroad for a year in London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and 
Halle, and returning settled in Chicago, where he has remained in active 
practice up to the present. In 1890 he was elected Professor of Nervous 
Diseases in the Chicago Policlinic, retaining that position until 1900. In 
1892 he was elected to the professorship of Mental Diseases and Medical 
Jurisprudence in the Chicago Medical College, the Medical Department of 
the Northwestern University, which Chair in 1900 was enlarged to embrace 
Nervous and Mental Diseases and Medical Jurisprudence. He has done 
considerable in the line of hospital work. In 1892-93 he was a member, of 
the Staff of the Cook County Hospital, and he has since served as Neurolo- 
gist to Wesley, St. Luke's and the Chicago Hospitals, the Home for Destitute 
Crippled Children and the Lying-in Hospital, all of Chicago. Dr. Church 
has added much to the literature of the profession, and as organizer of the 
Chicago Medical Recorder, of which he has been editor throughout the period 
of its existence, is entitled to special credit in this respect. We append here- 
with a list of his own contributions : "Some General Considerations in the 
Treatment of Epilepsy," Transactions, Chicago Medical Society, July 15, 
1889. "Syringomyelia," North American Practitioner, July, 1889. "Com- 
parative Study of Common Forms of Convulsions," Times and Register, 
New York, October 26, 1889. "Peripheral Irritation in Nervous Diseases," 
Weekly Medical Review, St. Louis, February 8, 1890. "The Nature of 
Tetanus," Journal American Medical Association, March 22, 1890. "The 
Proper Disposition of the Criminal Insane," North American Practitioner , 
April, 1890. "Contribution to Brain Surgery," American Journal Medical 
Sciences, July, 1890. "Cerebral Cortical Localization and Brain Surgery," 
North American Practitioner, October, 1890. "Multiple Neuritis," Journal 
American Medical Association, November 1, 1890. "Morvan's Disease, 
with Clinical Report of a Case," Journal American Medical Asso- 
ciation, March 7, 1891. "The Nervous Features and Sequences of La 
7 



98 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Grippe," Chicago Medical Recorder, July, 1891. "Athetosis: with Clinical 
Cases," Review of Insanity and Nervous Diseases, February, 1892. "Con- 
tribution to Spinal Cord Surgery," American Journal Medical Sciences, 
April, 1892. "The Vertigo of Arterial Sclerosis," Medical News, June 
25, 1892. "The early Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Anterior Poliomye- 
litis," Northwestern Lancet, December, 1892. "Acromegaly," Medical Re- 
cord, May 6, 1893. "Removal of the Ovaries and Tubes in the Insane and 
Neurotic," American Journal of Obstetrics, 1893. "Cerebral Palsy of Chil- 
dren," Chicago Medical Recorder, August. 1894. "Pseudohypertrophic 
Paralysis," International Clinics, Vol. 1, fifth series. "The Hemiplegic State 
and its Treatment," Chicago Medical Recorder, June, 1897. "Differential 
Diagnosis and Treatment of Cerebral Hemorrhage and Cerebral Throm- 
bosis," Chicago Medical Recorder, October, 1897. "Writer's Cramp." Phil- 
adelphia Medical Journal, February, 1898. "Cerebellar Tumor Recognized. 
Clinically Demonstrated by the X-ray and Proved by the Autopsy," Ameri- 
can Journal of Medical Sciences, February. 1899. "Department of Nervous 
and Mental Diseases,". American Year Book of Medicine and Surgery. \V. B. 
Saunders & Co., Philadelphia, New York, London, for 1896, 1897. 1898, 
1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904. "A Treatise on Mental and Nervous 
Diseases," by Church and Peterson, W. B. Saunders & Co., Philadelphia, 
New York, London, 1899, four editions. "A Case of Spinal Arthritis De- 
formans," Chicago Medical Recorder, October, 1899. "The General Symp- 
toms of Brain Tumor and the Differential Diagnosis," Chicago Medical Re- 
corder, April, 1900. "The Treatment of the Opium Habit by the Bromide 
Method," New York Medical Journal, June 9, 1900. "Trional Fatalities." 
by Archibald Church and E. D. Hutchinson, Chicago Medical Recorder, 
November, 1901. "Spinal Cord Conditions in Severe Anemias." New York 
Medical Journal, July 26, 1902. "Migraine in Masquerade." Chicago Medi- 
cal Recorder, October, 1902. 

The following tribute to Dr. Church's standing is from the pen of Dr. 
N. S. Davis, Sr. : "Dr. Archibald Church, of Chicago, is a thoroughly 
educated member of the medical profession, who by limiting his attention 
to the department of Nervous and Mental Diseases has acquired a high repu- 
tation both as a teacher and practitioner, and also as a valuable contributor to 
medical literature. He is an active and influential member of the National. 
State and City Medical Societies, and an influential member of the Faculty 
of the Northwestern University Medical School." 

On March 28, 1894, Dr. Church was married in Maysville. Kentucky, 
to Margaret Mitchell Finch. They have one child, Archibald Church. Jr. 




tylff>(f&9€for 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 99 

DANIEL ROBERTS BROWER, M. S„ A. M., M. D., LL. D. 

Dr.. Daniel Roberts Brower was born in Manayunk, Pennsylvania, a 
son of Daniel Rife and Ann Billop (Farmer) Brower, the former a descen- 
dant of the Brower family who very early settled on the Schuylkill river, in 
Montgomery county. Mrs. Ann Billop (Farmer) Brower was a daughter of 
a major in the English army, who, while on duty with his regiment, met and 
married Ann Pawling, daughter of Major Pawling, a Tory during the Revo- 
lution. After, the close of the war Major Farmer resigned his commission and 
made his home in Pennsylvania. 

Shortly after Daniel Roberts Brower was born, the family moved to 
Phoenixville, and there his education began under a very clever teacher. When 
he was thirteen years of age the family moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania, 
where he entered Tremont Seminary, then an excellent school under the 
charge of Rev. Samuel Aaron. In that institution he was prepared for entrance 
into the Polytechnic College of Philadelphia, from which he graduated with 
honors in 1858 as Bachelor of Science. His inaugural address on the ventila- 
tion and drainage of mines was complimentel by being published in full with 
favorable comment in The London (England) Mining Engineer, the then 
leading publication of the world. In 1861 his Alma Mater conferred on him 
the degree of M. S. He followed the profession of mine engineering about 
one year in western Virginia, and then, in response to what had been the 
ardent desire of his life for many years, he began the study of medicine, and in 
February, 1864, graduated from the Medical Department of Georgetown 
University. 

Shortly before graduation he passed the army medical board of examiners, 
then sitting in Washington, D. C, and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon 
United States Volunteers, by President Lincoln. He was assigned to duty at 
the United States General Hospital, Portsmouth, Va. After a short service 
there he was ordered to the general hospital at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, 
then the largest hospital in the United States, and here his surgical service 
was very active and extensive. In 1865 he was brevetted Captain, by Presi- 
dent Johnson. From Fortress Monroe he was ordered to Norfolk, Virginia, 
as Chief Medical Officer of the military district of eastern Virginia. He con- 
tinued in this capacity until 1866, when he organized, under the Freedmen's 
Bureau, at Richmond, Virginia, the first hospital for the care of the insane . 
freedmen. In 1868 the Medical College of Virginia, at Richmond, conferred 
upon him the degree of M. D., and the next year he was elected Medical Sup- 
erintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia, at Williamsburg, and 
served in this capacity until the autumn of 1875. While in this position he 
quite generally remodeled the buildings, and introduced many reforms in the 
care and treatment of the insane; among other things schools were established, 



ioo A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

shops for various industries, systematic exercises were introduced, ns well 
as a constant succession of varied amusements. A farm was purchased for 
the occupation of the patients, yielding a supply of various farm products. 

In 1875 he removed to Chicago, Illinois, with his family, consisting of a 
wife, the daughter of Col. A. W. Shearer and Eunice Norris (Schrack) 
Shearer, whom he married May 15, 1867, and two children, a daughter and 
a son. In Chicago he began at once the practice of his profession, devoting 
himself especially to the treatment of mental and nervous diseases. 

The career of Dr. Brower in Chicago, with his honors and his triumphs, 
would fill a volume. In 1877 he became Professor of Nervous Diseases in the 
Woman's Medical College, a position he most ably filled until within a few 
years; from 1889 to 1899 was Professor of Mental Diseases in Rush Medical 
College; from 1891 to 1899, Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 
in Rush Medical College. At the present time he is Professor of 
Mental and Nervous Diseases in Rush Medical College; Professor 
of Mental and Nervous Diseases in the Post-Graduate Medical School of 
Chicago. He is the Neurologist to St. Joseph's Hospital, and Cook 
County Hospital, all of Chicago. He is Consulting Physician to the Presby- 
terian Hospital, Woman's Hospital, State of Illinois Woman's and Chil- 
dren's Hospital, and the Washingtonian Home, all of Chicago. He has been 
President of the State Medical Society of Illinois, of the Chicago Medical 
Society, and of the Medico-Legal Society of Chicago. He was for a number 
of years the Editor of the Chicago Medical Journal. He has been a frequent 
contributor to various medical journals, selecting his topic usually from 
mental and nervous diseases. He has devoted considerable time to the study 
of geology, mineralogy, botany and anthropology, especially criminal anthro- 
pology. He is regarded as an excellent lecturer, and in addition to the 
lectures given by him, both clinical and didactic, at the several medical col- 
leges, he frequently addresses non-professional audiences on various topics, 
chiefly anthropological. Various institutions of learning have rejoiced to 
to do him honor. Wabash College, Indiana, conferred upon him the degree of 
A. M. ; while St. Ignatius College, Chicago, and his Alma Mater. University 
of Georgetown, D. C, have both honored him with the degree of LL. D. 

Dr. N. S. Davis writes : "Dr. Daniel R. Brower is now and has been 
for many years, one of the most prominent students and successful practi- 
tioners in the important departments of Psychology and Neurology. Inherit- 
ing mental faculties naturally well balanced, and having broadly cultivated 
them by education and study of the whole field of medicine, he has been 
enabled to comprehend and teach, not only the physiology and pathology of 
the brain and nerves, but also the true relations they bear to all the other 
functions and organs of the body. Consequently his many contributions to 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 



medical literature are characterized by clearness of thought, logical reasoning 
and just comprehension of his subjects, thereby properly entitling him to the 
high rank freely accorded to him." 

Among Dr. Brower's contributions to Neurology may be mentioned : 
Six reports of the Medical Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum 
for the years 1870, 1 871, 1872, 1873, x ^74 an( l J 875, respectively, and pub- 
lished by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, in the above 
years; "A Case of Suicidal Melancholia," Chicago Medical Journal and Ex- 
aminer, Vol. 33, p. 690, 1876; "Traumatic Insanity in Its Medico-Legal 
Relations," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, Vol. 39, p. 609, 1879; 
"A New Surface Thermometer," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 
Vol. 40, p. 505, 1880; "Hyoscyamine," Chicago Medical Journal and Ex- 
aminer, Vol. 41, p. 261, 1880; "Traumatic Tetanus," Chicago Medical Jour- 
nal and Examiner, Vol. 45, p. 449, 1882; "A Case of Epileptiform Convul- 
sion and Paralysis Due to Syphilitic Tumor," Chicago Medical Journal and 
Examiner, Vol. 46, p. 21, 1883; "Concealed Insanity, as Illustrated by Case 
of Mark Gray," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, Vol. 47, p. 289, 
September, 1883; "The Effects of Cocaine on the Central Nervous System," 
Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, Vol. 52, p. 173, 1886; "A Clinical 
Lecture on Tubercular Meningitis," Journal American Medical Association, 
January 7, 1888; "A Clinical Lecture: Poliomyelitis Anterior Acute," 
Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, Vol. 46. p. 273, 1888; "A Clinical 
Lecture on Hemicrania," Western Medical Reporter, March, 1888; "Exoph- 
thalmic Goitre and Its Treatment by Tincture of Strophanthus," Journal 
American Medical Association, November 3, 1888; "The Clinical Uses of 
Electricity," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, December, 1888; "The 
Clinical Uses of Electricity," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, Vol. 
46, p. 1, 1889; "The Treatment of Locomotor Ataxia," Proceedings Interna-, 
tional Medical Congress, Berlin, 1890; "Cerebral Paralysis," Clinical Lecture 
delivered at North Western University Woman's Medical College, December, 
1892; "Cerebral Paralysis," Chicago Clinical Review, Vol. 1. p. 193, 1893; 
"Prevention and Treatment of Cholera," Chicago Clinical Review, 
p. 14, Vol 2, 1893; "Neurological Clinic: Multiple Sclerosis;" "Lateral 
Spinal Sclerosis," Chicago Clinical Reviezv, Vol. 2. p. 37, 1893 ; "Neurologi- 
cal Clinic: Mania, Parralysis Agitans; Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis." Chicago 
Clinical Reviezv, Vol. 2, p. 995, 1893; "Multiple Neuritis of Rheu- 
matic Origin and Brain Paralysis," Chicago Clinical Review, Vol. 
2 < P- 377> ^93 ; "Some Suggestions as to Treatment of Cere- 
bral Hemorrhage," Chicago Clinical Reviezv, Vol. 3. p. 89, 1893; 
"The Murderer of Mayor Harrison a Paranoiac," Chicago Magazine of Cur- 
rent Topics, February, 1894; "Medical Expert Testimony," read before the 



102 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Illinois State Medical Society, 1894; "A Case of Gumma of the Cerebrum," 
Journal American Medical Association, Vol. 24, No. 2, 1894; "Cerebral 
Meningitis; Lead Poisoning; Alcoholism," International Clinics, Vol. I, 4th 
series, 1894 — Philadelphia; "Clinical Lecture on Mental Diseases," Chicago 
Clinical Review, Vol. 3, p. 597, 1894; "Some Suggestions in the Treatment 
of Locomotor Ataxia," The Corpuscle, Chicago, October, 1895; "Clinic: 
Paralysis, Brain Disease, Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Brain Disease." Chicago 
Review, Vol. 4, p. 291, 1895; "Cerebral Meningitis, Concussion of the Brain: 
Sciatica: Two Cases Cholera," International Clinics, Vol. 1, 5th Series, 1895 
— Philadelphia; Chairman's Address, Section on Neurology and Medical 
Jurisprudence, 46th Annual Meeting American Medical Association, subject : 
"Progress in Neurology," Journal American Medical Association. Vol. 
25, No. 21, 1895; "Auto-Infection in Disease of Nervous System and Its 
Treatment," Chicago Clinical Review, Vol. 5, p. 160. 1895; "The Medical 
Aspects of Crime," President's Address, Illinois State Medical Society. 1895; 
"Aphasia, Cerebral Hemorrhage," International Clinics, Vol. 11. 5th Series, 
1895 — Philadelphia; "Two cases of Epilepsy," International Clinics. Vol, 4. 
4th Series, 1895 — Philadelphia; "The Teaching of Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics," American Medical Association — Atlanta, 1896; "On the 
Regulation of Marriage," American Medical Association, 1896: "The 
Necessity of Granting Privileged Communications to the Medical Profession 
in the State of Illinois," read before the Medico-Legal Society. December 5, 
1896; "Relation of Certain Diseases of the Nervous System to Life Insur- 
ance," Chicago Clinical Review, Vol. 5. p. 358, 1896: "Some Suggestions as 
to Treatment of Cerebral Hemorrhage," Vol. 5. p. ^2. Chicago Clinical Re- 
view; "Hemiplegia: Epilepsy: Apyretic Typhoid Fever: Probable Menin- 
gitis: General Myelitis." International Clinics. Vol. 1. 6th series. 1896-- 
Philadelphia ; The Habitual Criminal Report of Special Committee Medico- 
Legal Society, 1896; "Anemia: Some Suggestions in Diagnosis and Treat- 
ment," North American Practitioner. Chicago. September. 1896: "Cerebral 
Syphilis; Some Observations on its Diagnosis and Treatment." Peoria Medi- 
cal Journal, October, 1896: "The Etiological Factors in Crime and Treat- 
ment of Criminals," New York Medico-Legal Society. July. 1896: "Four 
Cases of Diplegia in a Family of Five," read before the Chicago Academy of 
Medicine, December, 1896 — Medicine. January. 1807: "Clinical Lecture 
on Mental Diseases." Chicago Review. Vol. 6. p. 136. 1896: "Friedreichs 
Ataxia or Hereditary Ataxia," Clinical Lecture Woman's Medical College — 
Journal American Medical Association. April 24, 1897: Climate in its Rela- 
tion to Disease of the Nervous System," read before the Climatological Asso- 
ciation, May 4, 1897; "Infantile Paralysis." Review of Insanity and Nervous 
Disease, November, i8qo; "Treatment of Locomotor Ataxia." read before 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 103 

the Section on 'Neurology, -International 'Medical Congress, Moscow, August, 
1897, and Published in Transactions; "Report of a Clinic on Exophthalmic 
Goitre and Facial Paralysis," American Practitioner, Chicago, 1 January, 
1898; "Report of a Clinic on Insanity," Chicago Medical Standard, Feb- 
ruary, 1898; "Some Observations on Treatment of Tabes Dorsalis," Journal 
American Medical Association, January 22, 1898; "Auto-intoxication in its 
Relations to Disease of the Nervous System, "^Journal American Medical 
Association, March 12, 1898; "The Etiology and Treatment of 1 Criminals," 
North American Practitioner, February 15, 1898;' "The Therapeutics of 
Aurum," American Medical Association, Denver, June 7, 1898; "Diet in the 
Uric Acid Diathesis," American Medical Association, Denver, June 8, 1898; 
"Cerebral Meningitis, Some Suggestions on Diagnosis and Treatment," 
American Medical Association, Denver, June 9, 1898; "Suggestions as to 
Limitation and Treatment of Juvenile Criminals," American Medical Asso- 
ciation, Denver, June 9, 1898; "Medical Aspects of Crime," Journal Amer- 
ican Medical Association, June 10, 1899; Several Clinical Lectures in Inter- 
national Clinics, Philadelphia ; "Treatment of Epilepsy," Medical Age, June 
25, 1 901 ; "Practical Manual of Insanity," W. B. Saunders & Co., 1902; 
"Clinical Lecture, Hemiplegia; Epilepsy; Infantile Giantism," Chicago Clini- 
cal Review, January, 1902; "Some Suggestions for the Better Care and 
Treatment of the Insane," Illinois Medical Journal, January 7, 1902; "A 
Neurological Clinic, u Thc Medical Standard, Chicago, February, 1902; 
"Drug Treatment of Neurasthenia," International Medical Journal, March, 
1902; "Some Observations on Treatment of Acute Insanity in General Hos- 
pitals," Proceedings American Medico-psychological Association, 1902, and 
"A Neurological Clinic, Hemiplegias," The Medical Standard, July,' 1902. 



WILLIAM B. HERRICK, M. D. 

Dr. William B. Herrick was born September 20, 181 3, at Durham, 
Maine, and obtained his early education in the vicinity of his home, but sup- 
plemented his scholastic tuition by persistent study and a judicious course of 
reading. When he was sixteen year,s old he commenced teaching school, at 
intervals attending the Gorham Academy, Maine. While there he deter- 
mined upon becoming a physician, in pursuance of which intention he at- 
tended medical lectures at Bowdoin and Dartmouth Colleges, and graduated 
from Dartmouth as an M. D., November 16, 1836. 

In 1837 Dr. Herrick settled in Lousiville, Kentucky, and was appointed 
Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Louisville Medical College. He 



104 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

only remained in that city two years, and in 1839, removed to Hillsboro, 
Illinois, where, in 1840, he married Martha J. Seward, daughter of John 
B. Seward, who was one of the pioneers of the State. He remained in Hills- 
boro until 1844, when he came to Chicago, and was made Professor of 
Anatomy in Rush Medical College. 

At the outbreak of the Mexican war he received the appointment of As- 
sistant Surgeon of the FirsJ Illinois Volunteers, and faithfully performed 
all the arduous duties of the office of surgeon. He participated in the move- 
ments and engagements of his regiment, and was with them jn the battle of 
Buena Vista, and, afterward, was in charge of the hospital at Saltillo, Mex- 
ico, until the sickness caused by the exposure and fatigues of the campaign 
necessitated his resignation on May 24, 1847. 

Returning to the North he entered on a private practice in Chicago, 
which he maintained until 1857, also occupying a Chair of Anatomy in Rush 
Medical College. He was likewise one of the originators of the Chicago 
Medical Society and the Illinois State Medical Society, and was always 
prominently identified with all that was either beneficial for the medical fra- 
ternity, or the public health. In 1857 he was compelled to relinquish his 
practice and seek, by climatic change, the restoration of his health. But the 
rigors of campaign life had been too potent for his constitution, which, how- 
ever, did not succumb entirely until 1865. On the last day of that year, at his 
home in Maine, the spirit of Dr,. William B. Herrick passed from this earth, 
and the new year dawned for him in the undiscovered hereafter. 

Dr. Herrick was a prominent and influential Mason, a past master of 
Oriental Lodge, a member of Apollo Commandery, and a past grand master 
of the Grand Lodge of Masons of the State of Illinois. 

A brief sketch of his life and work as outlined by Dr. N. S. Davis. Sr., 
is appended : "Dr. William B. Herrick, born and educated in the State of 
Maine, became a resident of Chicago in 1844. The following year he was 
elected to the Professorship of Anatomy and Physiology in Rush Medical 
College, which he filled with marked ability for ten years. During the time 
he also acquired a wide reputation as a practical surgeon, a ready writer, 
a profound thinker, and a most estimable citizen. He participated in the 
organization of the Illinois State Medical Society in 1850, and was its first 
president. During the same year he aided in the organization of the Chicago 
Medical Society ; and during a part of the time he was one of the editors of 
the IUnois Medical and Surgical Journal. He served with distinction as 
surgeon to an Illinois Regiment of Volunteers during the military campaign 
in Mexico in 1846-7. On his return, he resumed his professional and college 
duties, but soon began to show signs of spinal paresis, which, in 1854, ren- 
dered his lower extremities entirely useless. ?nd compelled him to resign his 
professorship and return to his native State, where he died." 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 



FERDINAND CARL HOTZ, M. D. 



cos 



Ferdinand Carl Hotz, the eminent Chicago specialist in Affections of 
the Eye and Ear, was born at the picturesque town of Wertheim, in South 
Germany, July 12, 1843. His parents, Gottfried and Rosa Hotz, gave him 
admirable educational advantages. A thorough training in the common 
schools and Lyceum, which he completed at the age of eighteen years, was 
followed by a four years' course in medicine at the University of Jena, his 
professional studies being completed at Heidelberg, a seat of learning whose 
fame has spread to every civilized quarter of the habitable globe. From this 
venerable institution he graduated in 1865. During the last year of his 
course there, and for. twelve months after graduation, he was Interne at the 
University Hospital, the grave responsibilities of which post he discharged 
with the same conscientiousness which has ever been one of the distinctive 
characteristics of his personal and professional life in later years. During 
the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 he served as an army surgeon. After 
the close of the war he devoted himself to the study of those specialties for 
which innate inclination and inborn aptitude so richly qualified him, and in 
the practice of which he has world-wide fame. Among his preceptors were 
such eminent men as Graefe, the celebrated oculist of Berlin, and Gruber and 
Politzer, of Vienna, no less famous as aurists. His practical experience in 
his professional specialty has been both long and broad. In 1868 he was 
appointed House Surgeon at the University Hospital at Heidelberg, and in 
1869 he attended clinics at Paris, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 
August of that year he came to the United States, and at once located in 
Chicago, where, in 1873, he married Miss Emma R. Rosenmerkel, a daugh- 
ter of F. W. Rosenmerkel, the pioneer druggist of that city. To give a de- 
tailed statement of the posts of responsibility and honor which he has held 
in the city of his adoption would be to transcend the limits necessarily as- 
signed to this brief and imperfect sketch. Among them, however, may be 
mentioned the following: Oculist and Aurist at Cook County Hospital, 
1870-75 ; Attending Surgeon at the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear In- 
firmary, 1875-92; Professor of Ophthalmology and Otology at the Woman's 
Medical College, 1871-75; Professor of Ophthalmology in the Chicago Poli- 
clinic College, 1890; Oculist and Aurist at the Presbyterian Hospital, 1897, 
and Professor of Ophthalmology and Otology at Rush Medical College,* 1897. 
In 1888 he was made chairman of the Section of Ophthalmology and Otology 
of the American Medical Association. He also founded the Chicago Society 
of Ophthalmology and Otology, of which he was the President the first three 
years. 

While never an aspirant for office, Dr. Hotz was tendered, and accepted, 



106 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

a position on the Public Library Board of Chicago in 1875, and served in that 
capacity for three years, bringing to the discharge of his official duties a keen 
intelligence and a ripened judgment. 

He has been a valued, although not a prolific, contributor to many of 
the leading medical journals of the country, and has gained wide repute as 
an author. Among the most valuable of his brochures, the following may 
be enumerated: "Intra-Ocular Lesions through Sun-Strokes," "New Opera- 
tion for Entropium," "Mastoid Operations," "Plastic Lid Surgery." and 
"Skin Grafts in Eye Surgery." He also prepared a chapter on "Lid Opera- 
tions," for the "American Textbook of Diseases of the Eye. Ear. Xose and 
Throat." 

In social life Dr. Hotz is a man of geniality, as well as magnetic per- 
sonality, and in the practice of his profession shows a broad charity. He 
is a member of the Germania and of the Glenview Golf Clubs. He has 
traveled extensively in both this country and Europe, visiting some noted 
places of interest, at home or abroad, every year. 



TRUMAN W. MILLER, M. D. 

On May 31, 1900. in Chicago, occurred the death of Dr. Truman W. 
Miller, one of the most distinguished physicians and surgeons of the We^t. 
who for thirty-seven years was one of the leading practitioners in Chicago. 

Dr. Miller was born in Lodi. Xew York, March 2. 1840. He received 
his professional education at Geneva Medical College, aand at the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons in Xew York City. In 1862 he was appointed 
Medical Cadet in the United States Army, and the following year won pro- 
motion to Acting Assistant Surgeon. In that same year he received his 
degree of M. D. He served in the Army of the Potomac until after the 
battle of the Wilderness, when, owing to ill health, he was transferred to 
Chicago and assigned to duty as Post and Examining Surgeon, which posi- 
tion he held until the close of the war. In 1873 he was appointed Assistant 
Surgeon, United States Marine Hospital, Chicago, and in 1877 was promoted 
to Surgeon, which position he held until his resignation in 1886. During 
this period he was Surgeon of the First Regiment. Illinois National Guard. 
During his very active life he served on the staff of many of Chicago's prom- 
inent hospitals. The Policlinic had its origin with him, and to his exertions 
and wise management are due the sound financial and professional success 
which that progressive institution enjoys today. He was its first and only 
president up to the time of his death, and he possessed the absolute confidence 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 107 

of all his colleagues. At the time of his death, he was Professor of Surgery 
at the Chicago Policinic, Consulting Surgeon to St. Joseph's, the German and 
the Alexian Brothers Hospitals, Surgeon-in-chief to many of the leading 
lines of railroads, and Medical Referee and Consulting Surgeon to a number 
of life and accidental insurance companies. 

Dr. Miller was an active member of all the leading national and local 
medical societies, and was a member; of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
Socially he was a member of several of the leading clubs of Chicago and 
New York. The Doctor was eminently a man of action, and he contributed 
little to medical literature. His energies were devoted to practical profes- 
sional work, especially in the hospitals and as a clinical instructor. Possessed 
of extraordinary executive ability, rare judgment, quickness of perception 
and tenacity of purpose, he was a leader of wide influence in all enterprises 
that engaged his attention. One of his noted traits of character was his great 
kindness to young men, many of whom owe their start in life to his kind 
advice, his wise counsel and his generous material aid. To his friends he was 
always true, to his enemies just, and where he could not commend he 'never 
condemned. His good disposition made him a most enjoyable companion. 
As his honor was unimpeachable, and his integrity of purpose never ques- 
tioned, his influence was widely felt. His habits of life were simple, and he 
was a man of the people. 

Dr. Miller was twice married, and is survived by his second wife and 
daughter, and two married daughters o>f his first marriage. 



EPHRAIM FLETCHER INGALS, A. M., M. D. 

Dr. Ingals is one of the very busy and well known men in medical cir- 
cles in ' Chicago, and a specialist of international renown in diseases of the 
Chest, Throat and Nose. Besides attending to the exacting duties of his 
own practice he is connected with various medical institutions — schools, 
hospitals, societies, etc., to the interests of which he has contributed freely 
of his time, labor and means and he has done much to raise medical educa- 
tion to a higher plane and to promote the best interests of the profession. 

The Doctor was born September 29, 1848, at Lee Center, Lee county, 
Illinois, where his parents, Charles Francis and Sarah (Hawkins) Ingals, 
were among the early settlers. The father was a native of Abington, Con- 
necticut, to which place his ancestors had moved from Massachusetts. The 
family is an old one in New England, the first of the Doctor's line being 
one of two brothers, Edmund and Francis Ingalls, who came from Lincoln- 



108 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

shire, England, in 1628, and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts. James, the 
grandson of Edmund Ingalls, moved to Ahington, Connecticut, where three 
generations are buried side by side in one cemetery. Charles Francis Ingals 
came to Illinois in 1834 and carved a home out of the wilderness in Lee 
county, where for many years he was one of the prominent men and a lead- 
ing agriculturist and stockman. He and his wife came to Chicago in the 
early nineties to spend their closing years in retirement. Mrs. Sarah H. 
Ingals was a native of Reading, Vermont, daughter of John S. and Mary 
(Morrison) Hawkins, and the granddaughter of a Revolutionary soldier, 
who served throughout the war as captain of a company from that State. 

E. Fletcher Ingals attended the public schools of his native county and a 
branch of the State Normal School at Bloomington, Illinois, and also the 
Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris, Illinois. He came to Chicago in 
1867, and later took up the study of medicine under Dr. Ephraim Ingals, 
who was for many years the leading spirit in Rush Medical College, from 
which institution he graduated in 1871. He then entered the Cook County 
Hospital as an Interne, and shortly after became a member of the Spring 
Faculty of his Alma Mater, acting as Assistant Professor of Materia Medica 
from 1871 to 1873. He has been connected with the college continually to 
the present day. He was Lecturer on Diseases of the Chest and Physical 
Diagnosis, Spring Course, from 1874 to 1883; Professor of Laryngology 
from 1883 to 1890; Professor of Laryngology and of the Practice of Medi- 
cine, 1890 to 1893; Professor of Laryngology and Diseases of the Chest, 
1893 to 1898; and Professor of Diseases of the Chest, Throat and Nose, 
and Comptroller, from 1898 to the present. Such a record, with the same 
institution, would put the mark of efficiency on any man. but Dr. Ingals's 
usefulness as a teacher has not been limited to Rush College. As the larger 
schools of medicine would not admit women, he felt that their faculties owed 
a duty to those women who wished to study the profession, therefore he 
served as Professor of Diseases of the Throat and Chest in the Northwestern 
University Woman's Medical School from 1879 to 1898. He is Professor 
of Laryngology and Rhinology in the Chicago Policlinic, and Professorial 
Lecturer on Medicine in the University of Chicago. He is Attending Physi- 
cian to the Cook County Hospital, and Attending- Laryngologist in the Pres- 
byterian and St. Joseph's Hospitals. His sole ambition in life has been to 
upbuild his Alma Mater and to add something to his chosen profession. How 
well he has succeeded is evidenced by his influence on medical education. 

Dr. Ingals's influence in securing the affiliation of the Rush Medical 
College with the University of Chicago, whereby great strides have been 
taken in medical teaching, is shown by the following statement from Dr. 
William R. Harper, the President of the University : "Even before the 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 109 

organization of the University of Chicago, Dr. Ingals proposed affiliation 
between the University and Rush Medical College. At various times he 
urged the importance of this step. After several years, in large part because 
of the skill which he showed in overcoming difficulties — both on the part 
of the Rush Medical Trustees and those of the University — affiliation was 
effected. It is unquestionable that the result came at last in the largest 
possible measure because of Dr. Ingals's diplomatic labors." 

Dr. Ingals's connections with medical societies have been numerous 
and important. He has been honored with the Presidency of the Illinois 
State Medical Society, the American Laryngological Association, the Amer- 
ican Climatological Association, the American Medical College Association, 
the Laryngological Section of the Pan-American Medical Association, and 
of the Pan-American Medical Congress, etc. Socially he holds membership 
in the Quadrangle Club, the Colonial Club, the Chicago Athletic Association, 
the Washington Park Club, and the Homewood Club. He served one year 
as President of the Citizens' Association and is a member of the Civic Federa- 
tion. Thus it will be seen that he is interested in matters outside of his pro- 
fession, though his time and attention are given almost unreservedly to medi- 
cal matters. However, as his connection with the Citizens' Association and 
the Civic Federation would indicate, he is ever ready to give his aid to move- 
ments intended to advance the public welfare. 

As an authority in his special line, the Doctor's contributions to medical 
literature have been well received. His book on "Diseases of the Chest, 
Throat and Nasal Cavities" (William Wood & Co., New York, 1894) has 
passed through its fourth edition, and is widely used as a text-book in the 
medical schools, and the articles from his pen which have appeared from 
time to time in the various medical periodicals are numerous and valuable. 

In 1876 Dr. Ingals married Miss Lucy S. Ingals, a native of Chicago, 
and daughter of Ephraim and Melissa R. Ingals, of that city. They have 
four children, Francis Ephraim, Melissa Rachel, Mary Goodell and E. 
Fletcher, Jr. Mrs. Ingals is also a descendant in the eighth generation from 
Edmund Ingalls, mentioned at the opening of this article. The family 
attends the Baptist Church. In political sentiment the Doctor has been a 
lifelong Republican, and he supports the candidates of that party whenever 
he believes them honest and well qualified. 



no A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

MARIE J. MERGLER, M. D. 

Few women in professional life attained the success and high standard 
so deservedly won by Dr. Marie J. Mergler. 

The Doctor was born in Mainstockheim, Germany, but was brought to 
America by her parents while still a little child. Through inheritance and 
training she possessed qualifications which fitted her in a marked degree for 
the work she undertook. Her father, naturally a student, was thorough, 
careful and conscientious in all that pertained to his profession — that of a 
teacher — a man of gentleness and strength, who firmly believed in the liberal 
education of women. Her mother, at an advanced age, possesses a 
most analytic mind. 

Dr. Mergler received her early education from her parents and in public 
schools. She was a graduate of the Cook County Normal School, and of the 
classical cour.se in a Normal School at Oswego, New York. At the age of 
nineteen she was first assistant in one of our high schools. Her medical 
studies were pursued in the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, and in the 
Universities of Zurich and Berlin. She first took up the study of medicine 
in the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, now the Northwestern Uni- 
versity Woman's Medical School, from which she was graduated in 1879, 
being the valedictorian of her class. In the same year she passed the com- 
petitive examination for. physician in the Cook County Insane Asylum, this 
being the first year in which women were admitted to the examination, and 
received the second appointment of house physician in that institution. She, 
however, went abroad that year to take a post-graduate course in the Univer- 
sity of Zurich, Switzerland, and upon her return took up general practice and 
became assistant professor of Gynecology in the Woman's Medical College 
of Chicago (now the Northwestern University Woman's Medical School) to 
the late William H. Byford ; the full professorship being assigned to her upon 
his death. For many years she was Secretary of the Faculty, and in 1899 the 
Board of Trustees of the University appointed her to the office of Dean. 

Her influence in furthering the advancement of the medical education 
of women was, perhaps, the most characteristic feature of her career. Be- 
lieving that the medical profession is incomplete and fails in the highest ful- 
filment of its service to the community so long as it excludes efficient women 
from its ranks, she was always a strong advocate of the medical education 
of women. As soon as she graduated, she was made a member of the Faculty 
of her Alma Mater, and until her death was identified with that school. 
Through it she was the means of promoting the interests of women students 
by securing for them many hospital appointments. She always stood for a 
high standard. This influence, together with the success she met in practice, 
made her one of the representative women physicians in America. 




- ' ■ 



' 



y {2A^t^ 




II2 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

1898; "Choice of Operation in Contracted Pelvis, with Report of a Case 
of Porro's Operation," 1900. The following are the titles of some of her 
miscellaneous writings: "History of the Woman's Medical College of 
Chicago," for the report of the Woman's Congress of the Columbian Ex- 
position; History of the same for the Medical and Dental Colleges of the 
West, 1896. 

Those who were the recipients of her generosity know the great phil- 
anthropic work she did among the deserving needy. The Doctor won the 
confidence of her patients, as well as her colleagues, chiefly through her ability 
in making a careful diagnosis. While the family doctor was to her the ideal 
physician, she drifted, through her early association with the late Dr. Will- 
iam H. Byford, into the practice of Gynecology and Surgery. She was con- 
sidered a safe as well as a skillful surgeon, performing with unusual success 
the most serious operations. With the Doctor's high ideals of a physician's 
moral responsibility, with her intellectual attainments, her industry and 
loyalty to duty, it is not surprising that she attained so high a standard of 
excellence in her work. While no doubt there still exists some of the old 
prejudice regarding the practice of medicine by women, it is gratifying to 
note the candor, justice and impartiality, with which the leading men of the 
profession have spoken of Dr. Mergler. It seems fitting that this article 
should close with the opinions of those colleagues who had an opportunity 
to know her work. The following, written a short time previous to her 
death, are therefore quoted : 

"I have known Dr. Mergler ever since she was a student and I have 
known something of her growth in popular esteem. She is one of the busiest 
practitioners in Chicago, and deservedly so, and so far as I know the fore- 
most physician of her sex in the world." — William E. Quine, M. D. 

"Dr. Mergler is one of the most prominent female physicians in this 
city. She has won her position by hard work and devotion to the study oi 
her profession. She is an able physician and successful teacher." — 
N. Senn, M. D. 

"Dr. Mergler is justly regarded as a person of more than ordinary 
intellectual activity and professional attainments, and sustains a good reputa- 
tion, both as a teacher and practitioner of medicine." — X. S. Davis. Sr.. M.D. 

"I am glad to state that I consider Dr. Marie J. Mergler the foremost 
and most progressive surgeon of her sex in the West. By means of her own 
efforts, she has risen from the ranks to the leadership, and now the highest 
honors are hers. She is one of those women, whose sex and early education 
have not interfered with her practical work. Her surgery, while not lack- 
ing in the delicate touches that are inseparable from a true woman's hand, 
possesses the calm vigor and snreness that characterize that of the master 
of the sterner sex." — Henry T. Byford. M. D. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 113 

"Dr. Mergler deserves great credit for many years of earnest work de- 
voted to the advancement of the higher education of woman. The women 
in the medical profession owe her a deht of gratitude, which they can never 
repay, for her unceasing efforts in their behalf." — Christian Fenger, M. D. 

Just a short time after her death, Dr. Frank Billings wrote: "It was 
my good fortune to know Dr. Mergler during nearly all her medical career. 
I first met her when she was an attending physician at Cook County Hospital, 
and the pleasant acquaintance which was then formed continued until her 
death. Dr. Mergler was, in 'my estimation, the best informed, the most 
rational and the broadest-minded medical and surgical practitioner among all 
of the women I have ever known who have devoted their lives to medicine. 
She was a thorough and energetic student, and was always fully abreast with 
all Of the advancement in medicine and surgery. She enjoyed the distinction 
of being a skillful, cool and rapid operator in her chosen field of surgery. 
I did not know Dr. Mergler as a teacher, but the position which she occupied 
in the Woman's Medical School, and the fact that she was at the time of her 
death the Dean of -the Faculty, is a proof that she excelled in college work 
as she did in the practice of medicine and surgery." 

Dr. Eugene S. Talbot writes : 

"The reason firm, the temperate will, 
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill, 
A perfect woman, nobly planned, 
To warn, to comfort and command. 

"Wordsworth here epitomizes the career of Dr. Marie J. Mergler, who 
in 1880, started upon the professional life which she so much adorned. Few 
physicians were as thoroughly permeated with the high ideals of the pro- 
fession as Dr. Mergler. She had in a large degree the philanthropic trend, 
the judicial temper and the just discrimination which marks the highest type 
of the physician. In no respect a doctrinaire as to the position of woman in 
the professions, she did much to destroy prejudice arising from the faddish 
attitude of many medical women. She has left but few peers in the pro- 
fession." 

Dr. Mergler died in California May 17, 1901. To the last her devotion 
to her profession was unabated, and when her will was read, it was found 
she had left legacies of $3,000, each, to the University of Chicago, and to the 
Northwestern University Woman's Hospital. Contact with the world and 
professional life never detracted from those gentle but strong womanly char- 
acteristics which endeared Dr. Mergler to her patients and friends. She al- 
ways had a strong appreciation of the beautiful, and was a lover of nature, 
art and music. By temperament she was social. Her love of home and the 
possibility it afforded for rest and the entertainment of friends probaHv 
brought her greater happiness than all other relations. 

8 



ii 4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

BYRON ROBINSON, B. S., M. D. 

Dr. Byron Robinson prides himself on being country born and bred. 
His father and mother, William and Mary Robinson, came to this country 
from England in 1845, an d located on a farm in central Wisconsin, near 
Hollandale, where they lived together for over fifty years. Here his father 
died, while his mother resides on the old homestead. 

Dr. Robinson's early life was spent on the farm and his education was 
commenced in the classic log school house. He afterward worked his way 
through the Mineral Point Seminary, and later through the Wisconsin Uni- 
versity, where he was graduated in 1878 with the degree of B. S. He was 
assistant to the Professor of Chemistry, during his Senior year at the Uni- 
versity, and while principal of a high scbool, the two years following grad- 
uation, studied Medicine with Dr. U. P. Stair. He then entered Rush 
Medical College, completed the course in 1882. and located in Grand Rapids, 
Wisconsin, where he entered on the practice of his profession. In 1884 Dr. 
Robinson left his practice and spent two years in Europe, studying Surgery 
and Gynecology in Heidelberg, Berlin and London. In 1887 he again went 
abroad, this time spending an entire year in Vienna in the study of his chosen 
specialty, Gynecology. In 1889 he was appointed to the Chair of Anatomy 
and Clinical Surgery in Toledo Medical College, which he occupied for two 
years, gaining the reputation of a capable and clear clinical teacher. In 1890 
he crossed the ocean again, and spent six months with Mr. Lawson Tait. of 
Birmingham, England. In 1891 he came to Chicago and was elected to the 
Professorship of Gynecology in the Post-Graduate Medical School. In 1894 
he was married to Dr. Lucy Waite, of Chicago. 

In 1887 Dr. Robinson began a series of original investigations in In- 
testinal Surgery. He made over two hundred experiments, on the intestines 
of dogs, and as a result devised for intestinal anastomosis the cartilage and 
rawhide and the segmented rubber plate, and the rawhide anastomosis but- 
ton, which can be employed without sutures. He originated the "stove-pipe" 
operation to displace circular enterorrhaphy, and invagination for circular 
enterorrhaphy without sutures ; also two methods of prohibiting intestinal 
invagination subsequent to operation, one the rubber tube, and the other, 
which is of more value, the suturing of the distal intestinal end of the proximal 
bowel mesentery. 

Dr. Robinson has been for years a liberal contributor to the leading 
medical journals. He is the author of "Intestinal Surgery," "Automatic 
Menstrual Ganglia," "L T rachial Cysts," "The Abdominal Brain and Auto- 
matic Visceral Ganglia," "Landmarks in Gynecology" and the "Peritoneum." 
which appeared in 1897. He has published a colored life-sized chart of the 





?TH 




PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 115 

sympathetic nerve, drawn from nature. He is the originator of the "Utero- 
Ovarian Vascular Circle," frequently called "The Circle of Byron Robinson," 
and the view that in the condition of visceral ptosis gastro-duodenal dilatation 
is due to the compression of the superior mesenteron artery, vein and nerve 
on the transverse segment of the duodenum. He published a monograph on 
the Arteria Uterina Ovariea in 1903. He published a book on "Colpo- 
Perineorrhaphy," in 1898. He has published a wall chart, entitled "Byron 
Robinson's Landmarks in Gynecology, in the Tractus Intestinalis and in the 
Peritoneum," with colored drawings valuable and suggestive alike to in- 
structors and students. Dr. Robinson is Attending Gynecologist to the 
Woman's Hospital, Consulting Surgeon of the Mary Thompson Hospital, 
and Surgeon to the Frances Willard Hospital. He is Professor of Gyne- 
cology and Abdominal Surgery in the Illinois Medical College. He has for 
years conducted a Post-Graduate School of Gynecology and Abdominal 
Surgery. 

Dr. Robinson is pre-eminently an investigator, a close student, and is 
unknown to the social clubs of the city. When not actually engaged in his 
practice he is to be found at his desk or in his den, where are to be found all 
the necessary aids and instruments for the dissections and experiments which 
have formed the basis for all his writing. Here he takes his recreation and 
finds his pleasure in his work. In preparing the first volume on the "Per- 
itoneum," he dissected the peritoneum and viscera of one hundred different 
species of fish. He is now engaged in the dissection of the peritoneum of 
amphibious birds and mammals for the second volume of that great work, 
which is to be descriptive and comparative. He has now almost completed 
a monograph on the ureter. Some have doubted that all this 
work could be done personally and practically by one engaged in such a large 
surgical practice as Dr. Robinson is known to have, not being able to realize 
the enormous amount of work that can be done by one man in perfect health, 
who does not frequent clubs, nor waste one hour of the twenty-four in any 
kind of dissipation. It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Robinson has the 
reputation in the profession of being one of its most conscientious and 
arduous workers. His reputation as a writer is not confined to this country, 
his articles having been published in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 
of Edinburgh, and copied in many British, French, and German journals.. 
He has contributed his full share to the development of Gynecology and 
Abdominal Surgery in America. He was the first to announce (1894) that 
appendicitis was due to trauma of the psoas muscles, and is one of the skillful 
operators for that disease in the country to-day. He was among the first to 
announce (1892) to the medical world that Gonorrhea is a cause of rectal 
strictures and vesiculitis seminales. Dr. Robinson is a born teacher, as his 



n6 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

many students, scattered all over the United States, can testify. His forceful 
manner in demonstration, whether it he a dissection or a surgical operation on 
the living subject, impresses the student and becomes a mental picture not 
easily erased. 

His extensive researches on the sympathetic nerve, chiefly embodied in 
his book entitled "Abdominal Brain and Automatic Visceral Ganglia." have 
been repeatedly announced by the foremost authorities as not only of merit 
and value, but as epoch-making. When "Robinson's Landmarks in Gyne- 
cology" appeared, Mr. Lawson Tait, the greatest surgical genius of his age, 
said: "The classification of the subject is very original." Of Byron Robin- 
son's most extensive work, "The Peritoneum," Prof. Howard Kelley said : 
"It looks like one of the best pieces of scientific work that has come out of 
this country." Prof. Henry Lyman says of him : "Dr. Byron Robinson is a 
man of ability in original research. He is remarkable for industry in a depart- 
ment that is not ordinarily cultivated by practicing physicians." Mr. Lawson 
Tait, in 1 89 1, remarked in an introduction to the late Prof. A. Reeves Jackson, 
of Chicago: "Dr. Byron Robinson has been a pupil of mine six months. 
His name is already well known on your side, as on this side, of the Atlantic, 
by his researches in abdominal surgery, and I am sure, from my experience 
of him, he is a man who will make his mark in our department." 

In connection, moreover, may be quoted the words of those eminent 
surgeons, Drs. Nicholas Senn and Christian Fenger. than whom none are 
better qualified to form an enlightened and unbiased estimate of the true value 
of the life work and researches of their brethren of the profession. Dr. 
Senn, writing of Dr. Byron Robinson, makes use of these words: "He is 
one of the most hard-working men in the profession. His work on the 
'Histology and Surgery of the Peritoneum' is epoch making. His experi- 
mental investigations have become a part of American medical literature. 
Work is his recreation." Dr. Fenger added this tribute of unstinted praise: 
"Dr. Byron Robinson reminds one of the plodding, hard-working European 
scientist, who subordinates everything, social and material, to his work. His 
researches on the 'Peritoneum' and the sympathetic nervous system have 
made his work known wherever earnest work is honored. His treatise on 
the 'Peritoneum' is unique of its kind and is a classic. His results are based 
upon thousands of personal investigations on the human subject and on ani- 
mals, as well as upon a careful perusal of voluminous literature of the 
subject. His 'Bibliography of the Peritoneum' occupies more than one hun- 
dred pages of the work and is here for the first time compiled." 

Dr. William J. Gillette, Professor of Abdominal and Clinical Surgery 
in the Toledo Medical College, in an address on the growth of Medicine and 
Medical Institutions in Toledo, said : "As vet. however. Toledo has not 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 117 

produced a great commanding medical genius, though there have lived and 
worked here two men of genius — I refer to Dr. J. H. Pooley and Dr. Byron 
Robinson, now of Chicago. These men, without doubt, were the strongest 
medical men who ever resided within the borders of the city. They were 
not fully appreciated when with us, but, after all, this is the fate accorded 
always to men of their stamp. The time is sure to come when most of us 
will be forgotten ; not so, however, with these two. It will come to pass that 
the profession here will consider it one of its greatest honors that they once 
lived and labored with us. Dr. Byron Robinson started 'Experimental Medi- 
cine' in Toledo, from which many lives have been saved." 



JOHN M. RAUCH, M. D. 

Dr. John M. Rauch, M. D., was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 4, 1828, a son of Bernard Rauch, a Pennsylvanian of German origin, 
and Jane (Brown) Rauch, a Scotch Presbyterian of Scotch-Irish extraction. 
His earlier education was acquired in the academy of his native town. Se- 
lecting the medical profession, in 1846, he entered the office of Dr. John W. 
Gloninger, a prominent successful practitioner of Lebanon. Matriculating 
at the Pennsylvania University in 1847, he graduated from that institution 
in the spring of 1849, an d hi the following year he located in Burlington, 
Iowa, and commenced the practice of his profession. 

During the year the Iowa State Medical Society was organized, and, 
becoming one of its members, he was appointed by the body to report "On 
the Medical and Economical Botany of the State," and his report was pre- 
sented at the next annual meeting. He was' the first delegate from the Iowa 
State Medical Society to the American Medical Association, and in 1852 
attended 'the meeting of that body, at Richmond, Virginia. During the years 
1850 and 185 1 his attention was directed to the relation of ozone to diseases, 
and he bestowed upon that matter a careful and thorough investigation. 

About this period, and during the prevalence of cholera. Dr. Rauch 
called the attention of Congress to the necessity of providing medical aid for 
those engaged in maritime pursuits on the western waters, and succeeded 
in having established, at Galena and Burlington, sites upon which . subse- 
quently were erected marine hospitals. He was appointed one of the com- 
missioners to select the sites. The buildings eventually constructed were 
thrown open for use in 1858. 

In 1852 Dr. Rauch delivered the annual address before the State Horti- 
cultural Society of Iowa, and, during his residence in that State, was an 



u8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

active member of the Iowa Historical and Geological Institute. In 1854 he 
became Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Iowa, and 
delivered the annual address before the Grand Lodge. During 1855 and 
1856 he devoted some time to assisting Professor Agassiz in the collection 
of material for his work, the "Natural History of the United States," and 
secured a valuable collection from the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, 
particularly piscatorial. A description of this fine collection was published 
in Silliman's "Journal of Natural Sciences." A portion of the two above 
named years he spent in Cambridge with Professor Agassiz. 

During his residence in Iowa, he was always active in advancing edu- 
cational and scientific interests, and with others, in 1856, was instrumental 
in securing the passage through the Legislature of a bill authorizing a 
geological survey of the State. In 1857 he was elected to fill a Chair of 
Materia Medica in the Rush Medical College of Chicago; this professorship 
he filled for three years, still continuing his residence in Iowa, and in 1858, 
he was elected President of the Iowa State Medical Society. In 185 1. during 
his residence in Burlington, his attention had been called to the increase of the 
disease cholera, following the burial of a number of its victims, in the United 
States Cemetery located there. With others he became instrumental, also, 
in securing the abandonment by government of the ground for burial pur- 
poses, and the donation of it to the Burlington University for educational 
purposes. In 1859 he was one of the organizers of the Chicago College of 
Pharmacy, and was selected as Professor of Materia Medica and Medical 
Botany in that institution. 

In 1861, at the outbreak of the war, Dr. Ranch entered the Medical 
Department of the Army, under General Hunter, and participated in the 
battle of Bull Run. Shortly after this engagement he was appointed Brigade 
Surgeon and assigned to McDowell's Division, General Reyes's Brigade, 
then stationed at Arlington. He was subsequently with General Augur's com- 
mand, and took part in the capture of Falmouth and Fredericksburg. In 
July, 1862, he was transferred with General Augur to Banks's Corps, acted 
as Medical Director at Cedar Mountain and Culpeper Court House, and as- 
sumed direction of the removal of the sick and wounded. Through this 
campaign he participated in all of the various engagements, acting as As- 
sistant Medical Director of the Army of Virginia. He was also with Gen- 
eral Pope through his campaign, and there rendered valuable service, saving, 
by his exertions, during the disastrous retreat, the medical stores of the 
Army, as well as many of the sick and wounded. At the battle of Antietam 
he was placed in charge of the sick and wounded of both forces, superintend- 
ing the exchange and paroling of disabled soldiers. He accompanied Banks's 
New Orleans expedition, and was assigned to duty at Baton Rouge, as 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 119 

special Medical Inspector of the Department of the Gulf. He participated 
in the capture of Port Hudson, acting as Medical Director during that siege, 
after which he accompanied General Franklin on the Sabine Pass expedition, 
moving with him afterward up the Teche. In 1864 he was relieved from 
active service in the field, and appointed Medical Director at Detroit, whence 
he was transferred to the Madison General Hospital, and there mustered 
out of service in 1865. For services performed during the war, he was 
brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel. 

On his return to Chicago, at the request of a number of the leading 
citizens, Dr. Rauch published his views on the burial of dead in cities. This 
subject, i. e., "Intramural Interments and their Influence on Health and 
Epidemics," had been also by request, discussed by him before the Historical 
Society of Chicago, in 1858, and on his return, his attention being called 
to sanitary measures necessary in the city, and his essay bearing importantly 
on the point, he consented to publish it. In 1867, with others, he was in- 
strumental in having the Board of Health organized in Chicago. Its mem- 
bers were appointed by the Judge of the Superior Court of the city, and he 
was one of the appointees. Here he served until 1873, and, dur- 
ing that time, presented many valuable reports on sanitary measures, viz. 
In 1868, a report on Drainage; in 1869, a report on the Chicago River and 
the Public Parks; in 1870, a Sanitary History of Chicago with the official 
report of the Board of Health, from 1867 to 1870. 

In the fall of 1870 Dr. Rauch visited the mining districts of South 
America, in order to ascertain what prospects existed of improving the sani- 
tary condition of the miners in the gold regions of Venezuela. During his 
sojourn in that country, he made a large and valuable collection of natural 
objects for the Chicago Academy of Natural Sciences, of which he had been 
for many years an active and valued member. During the fire of 1871, his 
report entitled "Report for the Board of Health," also a "Synopsis of the 
Flora of 'the North West," his herbarium, his "South American Notes," and 
many other valuable papers on sanitary measures, were destroyed. 

At this time he became connected with the Relief and Aid Society of 
Chicago, and rendered valuable service as one of its associates and agents. 
He had been actively engaged in the Board of Health and in all sanitary 
improvements, in Chicago, during the past six years, and up to the fall of 
1873. He had also been a prominent member and acted as treasurer after 
the organization, in 1872,, of the American Public Health Association. In 
1872 he prepared a paper on "Slaughtering," and by request, gave an 
opinion concerning the Schuylkill Dooryard Abattoir. He gave, in fact, 
so much attention to sanitary measures in various forms, that he was con- 
ceded authority on all pertinent points, his views always commanding the 



120 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

attention and respect of those best qualified to act as judges. In 1868 he 
published a report on the "Texas Cattle Disease." He was one of the 
Agassiz Memorial Committee, a member of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, and had also been appointed one of the Sanitary 
Committee for the Interior Department of the United States for the Cen- 
tennial Exposition. On account of failure of health he retired to his native 
place in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where he died March 24, 1894. He was 
never married. 



ISAAC N. DANFORTH, M. D. 

While the rugged clime and sterile soil of New England yield but 
scant returns to the agriculturist, that tight, close section of the country, 
which was first explored by the Puritans and Quakers, has furnished to the 
land at large countless sons who have hewn out their own paths to eminence 
and inscribed their names upon the imperishable roll of fame. Xew England 
theology and patriotism, like Yankee grit and perseverance, have spread over 
the country, from the Kennebec to the Golden Gate. In the Central West 
they have left a deep and abiding impress, promoting and fostering its de- 
velopment, while Chicago owes to the sons and daughters of the hills and 
valleys of New England not a little of its eminence as a scientific and educa- 
tional center. 

It is from such ancestry that Dr. Danforth claims descent. He himself 
was born in Barnard, Windsor county, Xew Flampshire. November 5. 1835. 
Both his parents, Albert H. and Elvira (Bosworth) Danforth. were members 
of prominent families in the Green Mountain State. His paternal grand- 
father, Isaac Danforth, was a pioneer among Vermont's medical practi- 
tioners; and his grandmother, whose maiden name was Persis Baker, was a 
daughter of Gen. Joseph Baker, of Westbury, Massachusetts, one of the 
heroes of the Revolutionary war. The Danforth family is of Danish- 
English origin, and it traces its ancestry back to 1536. its first American 
progenitor, a Puritan, having crossed the water from Framingham. Suffolk. 
England, in 1634, to make his home in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 
whose history the family played a prominent part for many years. 

Dr. Isaac Danforth, grandfather of Dr. Isaac X.. settled in Barnard as 
early as 1785; two of his brothers settled in northern Vermont, all in their 
da)' and generation members of the medical profession. 

Dr. Isaac N. Danforth, himself, received his early professional educa- 
tion in the Medical School of Dartmouth College. He showed himself a 
close student, devoted to research, and apt in acquiring and applying knowl- 





>6 




z^ 



/ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 121 

edge. In 1861 he was appointed Interne in the Retreat for the Insane, at 
Hartford, Connecticut. The position did not prove congenial to his tastes, 
and in the spring of 1862 he resigned it, to enter upon general practice. In this 
held he has labored four decades with marked success. Nor are the reasons 
for his success far to seek, when one recalls the trinity of causes which have 
ministered thereto : ripe scholarship, rigid conscientiousness and hard work. 
His first chosen field was Greenfield, New Hampshire, where he remained 
until the winter of 1865, which he spent in study in Philadelphia. In August, 
1866, he removed to Chicago, and there for more than a third of a century 
he has been engaged in practice, gaining the renown which comes only to men 
of talent, profound scholarship and unwearying industry. He did not have 
long to wait before recognition came to him. In 1868 he was made In- 
structor in Chemistry in Rush Medical College, and in 1871 appointed a 
Lecturer on Pathology in the same institution. Two years later he was 
chosen President of the body known as the Spring Faculty, which position 
he occupied until the "Spring" was merged into the "General" Faculty. In 
1881 he accepted the Chair of Pathology in Rush, but resigned a year later 
to accept the same seat in the Chicago Medical College. That post he filled 
with distinguished success for five years, when he was transferred to the 
Chair of Clinical Medicine, which he filled until 1895, when ill health, in- 
duced by over work, coupled with nervous exhaustion, following his wife's 
illness and death, compelled his retirement. Meanwhile, in 1881, he was 
given the honorary degree of A. M. by Dartmouth College. In the year 
1870 he was appointed a member of the medical staff of St. Luke's Hospital, 
and this position also he found himself forced to resign in 1895, but in recog- 
nition of the value of his long and faithful service, extending an entire quar- 
ter of a century, he was at once named Honorary Physician of the institution, 
a distinction which he still enjoys. Other honors have been heaped upon him 
as well. From 1873 to T &93 he was Consulting Physician of the Illinois 
Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, retiring from the post because of over 
work. In 1873 he was made Pathologist to the Cook County Hospital, but 
two years later an upheaval in local politics resulted in the removal of the 
entire medical board. In 1876 he was called to the Chair of Pathology and 
Renal Diseases in the Woman's Medical College, and from 1893 to : ^99 was 
Dean of the Faculty, but in the year last named severed his connections with 
the institution, feeling that after so many years spent in the lecture and clas's 
room he had earned a right to rest from further labor as an instructor. To 
Dr. Danforth's individual influence is due the prosperity of Wesley Hospital. 
Not only has he interested others in promoting its success, but he has him- 
self contributed liberally to its support, besides serving as a trustee and 
member of the executive committee, as well as of the medical board, and beino- 



I22 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

actively "on duty" in its wards. Other hospitals with which he is connected 
are the Mary Thompson Hospital for Women and Children at Chicago, the 
Alma (Michigan) Sanitarium, and the Silver Cross Hospital, of Joliet, 
Illinois, to which he is Consulting Physician. 

Among his professional brethren few practitioners are held in higher 
esteem not only on account of his scientific attainments but also because of 
his unsullied character and blameless life. He is a prominent and honored 
member of many medical societies : the American Medical Association, the 
Association of American Physicians (whose membership is limited to one 
hundred), the Illinois State Medical Society, the Chicago Medical Society, 
the Chicago Pathological Society (having been formerly its president), the 
Chicago Society of Internal Medicine, and the West Side Therapeutic Club, 
and is now President of the West Side Medical Society. He also belongs to 
the Illinois Club. 

Dr. Danforth writes with fluency, clearness and force, and his numerous 
contributions to the literature of his profession are highly prized by the 
medical world. Tbe following is a list of those which have attracted the 
widest attention : "The Preparation and Preservation of Sections of Soft 
Tissue," The Lens, October, 1872; "The Cell." Id.. July. 1872: "Theories 
of Cell Development," Id., October, 1872; '"Microscopic Appearances of 
Cancer Cells," Id., January, 1873; "The Cell, the Nucleus or Germinal 
Matter," Id., April, 1873; "Tbe Cell, tbe Protoplasm of Formed Material," 
Id., August, 1873; "The Diathetic Cause of Renal Inadequacy." Transac- 
tions Association of American Physicians, May, 1890; "Tube Casts and Their 
Diagnostic Value," Id., 1892; "Notes on the Treatment of Pernicious and 
Other Forms of Essential Anaemia." Id.. 1896; "Treatment of Chronic 
Interstitial Nephritis," Id., 1898; "Clinical Types of the Uric Acid Diathesis." 
Id., 1899; "A case of Chronic Tubal Nephritis," International Clinics, Jan- 
uary, 1892; "Treatment of Phthisis Pulmonalis," Id., Vol. II, Third Series, 
1893; "The Use of Turpentine in Typhoid Fever." Id.. Vol. III. Third 
Series, 1893; "Paralysis Agitans." Id., Vol. 1Y. Second Series, 1893: "Acute 
Tubal Nephritis, Chronic Tubal Nephritis. Amyloid Diseases of the Kidneys, 
Chronic Interstitial Nephritis," American Text Book of Diseases of Chil- 
dren, 1894; "Croupous Pneumonia, Acute Catarrhal Bronchitis. Bron- 
chiectasis, Pulmonary Congestion. Pulmonary Hemorrhage. Pulmonary 
Oedema," American Text Book Applied Therapeutics. [896; "Acute 
Capillary Bronchitis. In the Young and in the Aged, Pulmonary Emphy- 
sema, Chronic Interstitial Pneumonia. Pneumonokoniosis. Pulmonary Ab- 
scess, Pulmonary Gangrene. Pulmonary Neoplasms," Id.. 1896: "Catarrhal 
Pyelitis, Pyonephrosis and its Sequela?. Cvsto-Nephritis. Suppurative Nephri- 
tis. Renal Calculus. Hydro-Nephrosis, Renal Tumors." American System of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 123 

Practical Medicine, 1897; "Cystis Degeneration of the Kidneys, Renal Abscess, 
Renal Parasites, Acute Catarrhal Cystitis, Acute Croupous Cystitis, Chronic 
Catarrhal Cystitis, Vesical Calculus, Tumors of the Bladder, Prostatis," Id., 
1897; "Effects of Alcohol upon the Fibrous Tissues of the Body," a lecture de- 
livered at Lake Bluff; "Four Cases of Surgical Kidney," Chicago Medical 
Journal and Examiner; "Lecture Introductory to the Annual Course of In- 
struction in Northwestern University Woman's College," Journal American 
Medical Association, November 20, 1898; "Valedictory Address to the 
Graduating Class of the Woman's College," Chicago Medical Journal and 
Examiner, July, 1882; "Effects of Alcohol upon the Liver and Kidneys," a 
lecture before Preachers' Meeting, 1895. He is now at work upon a text-book 
on "Diseases of the Kidneys." 

In addition to the foregoing list, Dr. Danforth has published many 
fugitive articles in various medical and secular journals and newspapers on 
current medicai, scientific and sanitary topics, and has delivered many popu- 
lar or non-technical lectures on similar subjects. Dr. Danforth is known as 
a successful platform and after dinner speaker. 

In June, 1869, Dr. Danforth married Miss Elizabeth Skelton, who died 
August 1, 1895, a woman of remarkable endowments of head and heart, to 
whose support and counsel Dr. Danforth attributes much of his success. He 
has established a scholarship in her memory in Northwestern University 
Woman's Medical School and has contributed largely toward the Elizabeth 
Skelton Danforth Memorial Hospital in Kiukiang, China. Two children, a 
son and a daughter, followed this union, both graduates of Northwestern Uni- 
versity. Dr. Danforth married, for his second wife, January 7, 1898, Mary 
McPherson Barnes, widow of the late Norman S. Barnes, M. D., who was 
prominent in the medical service of the Army of the Potomac, during the Re- 
bellion. Dr. Danforth has been a member of and trustee in Centenary 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in Chicago, for thirty years, and has for many 
years been active in religious and missionary work. 



ROBERT HALL BABCOCK, A. M., M. D. 

Dr. Robert Hall Babcock was born in Watertown, New York State, 
July 26, 185 1, but while yet an infant was removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, 
which thereafter remained his home until he entered the practice of medi- 
cine in Chicago. 

On April 12, 1864, an explosion of gunpowder resulted in the loss of 
his sight. The following September he was sent to school at the Institution 



124 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

for the Blind in Philadelphia, where he remained until the summer of 1867. 
He then entered the Preparatory School at Olivet, Michigan, remaining a 
student there until he entered the Freshman class of Western Reserve Col- 
lege, Hudson, Ohio, in September, 1869. Failure of health toward the 
close of his Sophomore year necessitated absence from college for a year. 
Flis Junior year was spent at Western Reserve College with the class of 
1874, but at the beginning of the Senior year he removed to Ann Arbor, 
and finished his course in that University. He did not, however, come up 
for graduation with his class, owing to his unwillingness to comply with 
certain requirements to him seemingly unjust. The degrees of A. B.. and 
A. M., were subsequently conferred upon him by Adelbert College of 
Western Reserve University. 

Dr. Babcock began the study of medicine in the Fall of 1874. attend- 
ing lectures at Ann Arbor for two years, after which he repaired to the 
Chicago Medical College, from which he obtained the degree of M. D. The 
following year was passed in attendance at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, New York City, from which institution he received a diploma in 
the Spring of 1879, and was one of the ten Honor men of his class. The 
next three months were spent in New York City, in attendance upon several 
clinical courses. The winter of 1879 and 1880 Dr. Babcock was in Chicago 
doing a little practice, but chiefly quizzing in Obstetrics and Materia Medica 
at the Chicago Medical College. The following July he and his wife sailed 
for Germany, where he passed the next three years in medical study at Ber- 
lin, Munich and Wurzburg. 

In October, 1883, the Doctor returned and took up his residence in 
Chicago, where he has been in the active practice of medicine to the present 
time. Until 1891 he was attending physician in the Throat and Chest De- 
partment of the South-side Free Dispensary, which position he resigned 
shortly after accepting appointment to the Chair of Clinical Medicine and 
Diseases of the Chest at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a position 
he still holds. From 1891 to 1896 he was one of the attending physicians to 
the Cook County Hospital. He helped to organize the Post Graduate Med- 
ical School of Chicago, and occupied a chair in that institution until his 
resignation in 1896. In the fall of 1898. he was appointed one of the Staff 
of the Cook County Hospital for Consumptives, a position he still occupies. 
Dr. Babcock is consulting physician to the Mary Thompson Hospital and 
Dr. Newman's J. Marion Sims Sanitarium. 

The Doctor belongs to the following medical societies : The Chicago 
Medical Society, Chicago Pathological Society. Chicago Neurological So- 
ciety, Chicago Society of Internal Medicine and the Physicians Club, Illinois 
State Medical Society, honorary member of the Colorado State Medical 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 125 

Society, member of the American Medical Association, fellow of the Ameri- 
can Academy of Medicine, member of Congress of American Physicians and 
Surgeons, American Climatological Association, of which he was elected 
First Vice-President in 1899. He was formerly member of the Tri-State 
Medical Society, serving as President at its Chicago meeting in 1890. and 
of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association. 

On June 12, 1879, Di. Babcock was married to Miss Lizzie C. Weston, 
of Montclair, New Jersey. 

Dr. Henry M. Lyman writes of Dr. Babcock: "Accurate as a man well 
posted in the art of diagnosis, and standing high in the esteem of the pro- 
fession." 

Dr. John Ridlon writes: "I never think of Dr.' Babcock without a 
feeling of wonder. To me it is wonderful that a man totally blind could 
successfully complete a medical education ; it is more wonderful that he can 
practice medicine; and it is almost past believing that he has gained a first 
place among the really great men of a great city. Such a place Dr. Babcock 
has gained. In the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the Heart and 
Lungs he has no peer. The sensitiveness of his touch, the delicacy of his 
hearing, the accuracy of his reasoning, are only equalled by his wonderful 
memory of all things that come within his perception." 

Among the products from his pen are: "Diseases of the Heart and 
Arterial System," Appleton & Co., 1903 ; "Physical Condition Essential 
to the Production of Tympanitic Resonance and Pathological Status § of 
Pulmonary Tissues in which it occurs," Chicago Medical Journal and Ex- 
aminer, July, 1884, Vol. 49; "A Remarkable Case of Dexiocardia," Medi- 
cal News, October, 1884; "A Case of Pericarditis and Endocarditis," Medi- 
cal Age, Detroit, 1887, Vol. 5; "The Nature of the Rotation which the 
Heart Undergoes in Acquired Dexiocardia," Philadelphia Medical News, 
1888, Vol. 53; "Sclerosis of the Coronary Arteries, and its Relation to 
Certain Cases of Cardiac Failure," North American Practitioner, 1889, Vol. 
1 ; "The Remarkable Effect of Di'uretin in Removing Dropsy," New York 
Medical Journal, 1891, Vol. 54; "An Instructive Case of Atheromatous 
Narrowing of the Ascending Aorta with Resulting Changes in the Heart." 
North American Practitioner, Chicago, 1889, Vol. 1 ; "A Case of Primary 
Carcinoma of the Liver," Medical and Surgical Reports Cook County Hos- 
pital, Chicago, 1890-91 ; "Certain Normal Physical Signs and their Liability 
to Lead to False Diagnosis," North American Practitioner, Chicago, 1891, 
Vol. 3; "The Treatment of Consumption," Chicago Medical Recorder, [893, 
Vol. 4; "The Medical Aspects of Empyema," Journal American Medical 
Association, 1893, Vol. 21 ; "The Schott Method of Treating Chronic 
Diseases of the Heart by Baths and Gymnastics," Journal American Medical 
Association, October, 1893. Vo. 21; "The Treatment of Acute Croupous 



I2 6 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Pneumonia," Chicago Medical Recorder, 1892, Vol. 3; "Rest m the Treat- 
ment of the Heart," Journal American Medical Association, 1894, Vol. 23; 
"Enlargement of the Heart without Valvular Disease, with Special Reference 
to Treatment," Journal American Medical Association, December 2, 1894, Vol. 
23 ; "A Case of Idiopathic Enlargement of the Heart with Autopsy," Chicago 
Medical Recorder, 1894, Vol. 6; "The Condition of the Two Ventricles with 
Reference to the Administration of Digitalis," Journal American Medical 
Association, 1895, Vol. 24; "Some Consideration in Regard to the Senile 
Heart," New York Medical Record, 1895, Vol. 48; "Report of Chronic 
Heart Disease treated by the Schott Method of Baths and Gymnastics," 
Transactions of the American Climatological Society, 1895, Vol. 2 3> 
"Aneurism of the Ascending Aorta," International Clinic, Philadelphia, 

1895, 5th S., Vol. 3; "Some Considerations of Special Importance in the 
Management of Chronic Cardiac Diseases," The Charlotte (North Caro- 
lina) Medical Journal, May, 1895; "Open Air Treatment of Consumptives 
who cannot seek Change of Climate," Journal American Medical Associa- 
tion, 1895, Vol. 24; "The Treatment of Hemoptysis," Medicine, September, 
1896; "A Report of a Case Illustrating the Importance of Secondary Physi- 
cal Signs in the Diagnosis of Valvular Heart Disease," Physicians and Sur- 
geons Plexus, September, 1896, Vol. 2; "The Use of Cold in the Treat- 
ment of Acute Broncho Pneumonia," North American Practitioner, 1896, 
Vol. 8; "Some Considerations with Regard to Cough." Medicine, March, 

1896, Vol. 8 ; "Antitoxin, or Serum Therapy, with Special Reference to 
Tuberculosis," North American Practitioner, October, 1896, Vol. 8: "In- 
direct Treatment of Diseased Hearts," The Medical Standard, Chicago, 

1897, Vol. 19; "Report of a Case of Pulmonary Stenosis with Exhibition of 
Specimen," Medicine, 1897, Vol. 3; "The Diagnosis, and Differential Diag- 
nosis, of Pulmonary Abscess and Gangrene, with view to Surgical Treatment," 
Journal American Medical Association, 1898, Vol. 30; "Heart Disease from 
the Standpoint of Life Insurance," Medicine, 1898, Vol. 4; "A case of Heart 
Disease with Instructive Lessons which it Taught," Journal American Medi- 
cal Association, 1898, Vol. 32; "Some Remarks on Apomorphine as an 
Expectorant with a view to Correcting Prevailing Notions Regarding 
Dosage," American Medical and Surgical Bulletin, New York, 189S. Vol. 
12; "Cough and Thoracic Pain," Physicians and Surgeons Plexus, May, 
1898; "High Altitude and Heart Disease," Medical News, July 15. 1S99; 
"Arterio-Sclerosis with Special Reference to its Effects Upon the Heart, 
and to Treatment," Transactions, Colorado State Medical Association, 1899; 
"Pneumonia of the Aged," Journal American Medical Association, 1899; 
and "The Ethics of Medical Advertising: Its Methods, Ethical and Unethi- 
cal, the Forces that Bring it About, and its Inevitable Tendency if not 
Checked," Bulletin of the American Academy of Medicine, August, 1899. 




^r.^s^^f 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 127 

JONATHAN ADAMS ALLEN, M. D. 

. The late Dr. Jonathan Adams Allen, horn in Vermont, in 1825, was the 
son of a physician of eminence, and in addition to natural capacities of a high 
order, he received a full classical education in the schools of his native State 
and graduated in medicine in 1846. When the Medical Department of the 
University of Michigan was organized he was elected to a Chair of Physi- 
ology and Pathology, and became a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 
this new field he rapidly acquired a high reputation, both as a lecturer and 
general practitioner of medicine. In 1859 he accepted an invitation to fill 
the vacant Chair of Principles and Practice of Medicine in Rush Medical 
College, and changed his residence to Chicago. Here he soon became, per- 
haps, the most popular medical teacher in the College Faculty. With a 
mind thoroughly trained by education and amply stored with knowledge, 
aided by ready wit and keen sarcasm, he could impart interest to almost 
any subject. Yet he contributed only a limited number of papers as valuable 
additions to medical literature. He filled his professorship thirty-one years, 
to the time of his death, in 1890. During the last thirteen years he was 
President of the College.— [N. S. Davis, M. D., Sr.] 



FERNAND HENROTIN, M. D. 

Fernand Henrotin, a leading physician of Chicago, was born in Brus- 
sels, Belgium, September 28, 1847. His father and grandfather were both 
physicians, the former, J. F. Henrotin, being still well remembered among 
the old citizens of Chicago as one of the prominent practitioners from 1847 
to 1875. Fernand received his education entirely in Chicago, and after 
graduating from the high school studied medicine at Rush Medical College, 
and graduated in 1868, after a three years' course. From the very evening of 
his graduation Fernand Henrotin has led a most active professional life, and is 
fond of claiming that he never lost a day from disability in over thirty-five 
years of practice. For two years after graduation he was prosector at Rush 
Medical College, after which he served two years as County Physician of 
Cook county. Then he became Surgeon of the Police 'and Fire Department. 
He was connected with the former for fifteen years and the latter for twen- 
ty-one, for a number of years also serving as Surgeon of the First Brigade 
of the Illinois National Guard. He was connected with the medical staff of 
the County Hospital as Physician for several years, and later as Gynecolo- 
gist. At present he is Surgeon at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, Gynecolo- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 129 

William F. Waugh, second son of William, graduated with honor at 
Westminster College in 1868, receiving a gold medal, and the degree of 
A. M. was conferred upon him some years later. In 1871 he graduated from 
Jefferson Medical College. His subsequent professional life embraced a per- 
iod as Resident Physician at the West Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane; 
three years' service in the Medical Corps of the United States Navy, which 
he entered in 1873, receiving the highest grade of his date. His health being 
impaired by an attack of yellow fever, he resigned from the service and 
settled in Philadelphia in 1876. His standing as a physician there may be 
judged by the following list of the positions he filled: Vaccine Physician, 
Assistant Medical Inspector, Philadelphia Board of Health; Professor of 
Practice and Clinical Medicine, Medico-Chirurgical College; Physician-in- 
Chief, Medico-Chirurgical Hospital; Member Philadelphia County, Penn- 
sylvania State, American Medical and Northwestern Medical Societies, 
President Medico-Legal Society, etc. He successfully edited the Physician's 
Magazine, Medical World, Philadelphia Medical Times, Medical Times and 
Register, and Dietetic Gazette. At the Ninth International Medical Con- 
gress he was Secretary of the Section of Medicine. 

In the year 1893 Dr. Waugh removed to Chicago, where he now resides. 
He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Societe d'Electro 
Therapie de France, Fellow of the Chicago Academy of Medicine, etc. 

Dr. Waugh showed a strong inclination toward literary pursuits from 
early childhood, following the footsteps of a long line of bookish ancestors, 
and of late years has withdrawn from the active practice of his profession, 
except in consultation work and certain lines of unusual difficulty, in order 
to give more time to pen-work. His principal contributions to medical litera- 
ture are a "Manual of Treatment," written in conjunction with C. F. Tay- 
lor; "Manual of Active Principles"; "Treatment of the Sick"; and Diseases 
of the Respiratory Organs" ; hundreds of magazine articles and thousands 
of editorials, letters, notes, replies, and minor papers. He has been a de- 
voted advocate of local antisepsis, in the treatment of diphtheria, typhoid 
fever, cholera infantum, etc. ; and to him may be attributed the general use 
of the sulphocarbolates as intestinal antiseptics, calcium sulphide in gonor- 
rheal septicaemia, europhen in urethral maladies, intestinal antisepsis in pul- 
monary phthisis, pneumonia and all other fevers, etc. Dr. Waugh is literary 
editor of the Alkaloidal Clinic, a monthly founded and conducted by Dr.'W. 
C. Abbott, devoted to popularizing the use of the active principles in medical 
practice, instead of the uncertain, variable tinctures and extracts. His work 
has therefore dealt with the clinical aspects of the physician's work, rather 
than the theoretical, though he has earnestly urged the importance of the 
latter, and of the general application of laboratory methods, and accuracy in 
9 



i 3 o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

therapeusis, instead of the old guess at the disease, and tentative, timorous, 
pessimistic, drug-intervention. When the Dosimetric method of Burggraeve 
was introduced in America, Dr. Waugh quickly realized its vast importance, 
but he threw the weight of his influence against the attempt to make of it a 
new sect in medicine. To him and his associates, Drs. Abbott and Shaller, 
may be credited the development of this new therapeutic method on strictly 
ethical lines, within the limits of the general profession. 

Dr. Senn writes of him : "A prominent general practitioner, progressive 
in his teachings and writings on therapeutics and practice, who has greatly 
advanced the interest of scientific medicine in the northwest." 

Dr. John V. Shoemaker, of Philadelphia, writes: "Prof. William F. 
Waugh is an able diagnostician — a trained and practical clinician and an all- 
around physician. He is perfectly at home in the sick room, at the bed-side, 
in the hospital and in the lecture room." 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., writes : "Dr. William F. Waugh, of Chicago, has 
attained a deservedly high reputation both as a writer and teacher, especially 
in the departments of Therapeutics and Practice of Medicine. Inheriting 
mental capacity of a high order, and having the advantages of a good collegi- 
ate and medical education, he has devoted much of his time to the cultiva- 
tion of greater certainty as to the efficient causes of disease; more accuracy 
of diagnosis as the basis for correct therapeutic indications; and, as far as 
possible, the use of the active alkaloidal and other principles instead of crude 
drugs in the direct treatment of disease. No more important lines of investi- 
gation could be chosen, and his work is being duly appreciated both at home 
and abroad." 



MOSES GUNN, M. D. 

Moses Gunn, M. D., was born April 20. 1822. the son of Linus and 
Esther (Bronson) Gunn, in East Bloomfield. Ontario county. New York. 
His American ancestors descended from the Gunn clan, in the north of 
Scotland. After receiving his preliminary education at the common schools, 
at home, and taking a classical education at tbe academy, Moses Gunn de- 
termined upon pursuing the medical profession, and entered the Geneva Med- 
ical College, whence he graduated in 1846. Immediately after receiving his 
diploma as Doctor of Medicine he started for the "West, carrying with him, 
in a neat trunk, the body of a huge African, whereon his surgical skill could 
be exercised at a favorable opportunity. There were no "baggage-smashers" 
upon the Doctor's route, otherwise an unpleasant contretemps might have 
occurred.. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 131 

Dr. Gunn arrived at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in February, 1846, and at 
the same time that he commenced practice inaugurated the first systematic 
course of Anatomical Lectures ever given in Michigan. He had a class of 
twenty-five or, thirty students, and it is presumable that at the first lectures 
the African was resurrected and scientifically dissected. Upon the organiza- 
tion of the Medical Department of the University of Michigan Dr. Gunn was 
elected Professor of Surgery by a most flattering majority over, his com- 
petitor. But for once the Latin adage, palmam qui meruit ferat, was carried 
out. He occupied the Chair for seventeen years, until 1867, the first three 
years teaching both Anatomy and Surgery, and notwithstanding the en- 
grossing duties of his private practice and his professorship, as a recreation, 
he studied German, in which language he attained great proficiency. 

In 1848 Dr. Gunn married Jane Augusta Terry, the only daughter of 
J. M. Terry, M. D. In 1853 he removed to Detroit, continuing his duties 
at Ann Arbor, however, and in 1856 received the degree of M. A. from 
Geneva College, and in 1877 that of LL. D., from the University of Chicago. 
On September 1, 1861, Dr. Gunn entered the army, that he might gain a 
practical knowledge of military surgery, and was with General McClellan's 
army in the Peninsula campaign of 1862, wherein he rendered efficient med- 
ical service. In the spring of 1867 he resigned his position in the Medical 
Department of the University of Michigan, and moved to Chicago to accept 
a position in the Faculty of Rush Medical College, as successor to Dr. Brain- 
ard, whose death left vacant the Professorship of Surgery, from which 
time he became identified with the elite of the profession. In appearance 
Dr. Gunn was distingue and military; his speech was quick, decisive and 
always germane to the subject, and herein lay his secret as a successful pro- 
fessor of Surgery. His lectures were invariably lucid expositions of the 
subject, while with the scalpel he illustrated his disquisitions. His touch 
was velvet, his nerves steel ; and, being gifted with a profound memory, 
exquisite perception and attention to minutiae, it is no marvel that he was 
a skillful and successful surgeon, and a teacher of high reputation. After a 
protracted illness, he died at his home, surrounded by his family, on the 
4th day of November, 1887. 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., pays him the following tribute: "Dr. Gunn 
gained a deservedly high reputation, both as a teacher and practitioner of 
surgery. He was an active supporter of medical society organizations 'and 
a moderate contributor to medical literature. Personally he presented an 
admirable physical development, was affable and kind, dignified and honor- 
able, and enjoyed a just popularity until his death, in 1887." 



i 3 2 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

LUDVIG HEKTOEN, A. M., M. D. 

Ludvig Hektoen, A. M., M. D., has attained a position in the medical 
circles of a great educational center which places him among those who have 
made the present age the day of young men. He has achieved distinction as 
a pathologist in his connection with Rush Medical College and the University 
of Chicago, the standing of which institutions is sufficient guarantee of his 
right to be classed among the eminently successful physicians of the city of 
Chicago. His reputation is not confined by the boundaries of that city, how- 
ever, and wherever known he enjoys the respect due to one who has gained a 
high place through merit alone. 

Dr. Hektoen is a native of Wisconsin, having been born July 2, 1863, 
on his father's farm near La Crosse, that State. His parents, Peter P. and 
Olave (Thorsgard) Hektoen, natives of Norway, were early settlers of Ver- 
non county, Wisconsin, where the father still resides, living retired in West- 
by, near his farm. Besides carrying on farming Peter P. Hektoen was en- 
gaged as a school teacher, following that calling for several years in Vernon 
county, after which he held a public office at the State capital. He is a man 
held in the highest esteem wherever he is known, and since his return to 
Vernon county has been chosen to various local offices, in the administration 
of which he has shown that the confidence of his fellow citizens has not been 
misplaced. Noted for his honesty and straightforwardness, he has often been 
called upon to serve as administrator, and he has acted as adviser to many 
who came to him. His family consisted of three children: Ludvig; Martin, 
who is assistant physician at the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane, at 
Kankakee, Illinois ; and Miss Marie, who is a graduate of the University 
of Wisconsin, and is at present taking a post-graduate course at the Univer- 
sity of Chicago. 

Ludvig Hektoen passed his youth as a typical farmer boy, attending 
school winters and assisting on his father's farm during the remainder of 
the year. When fourteen years old he was sent to Luther College, at Decorah. 
Iowa, and six years later graduated from that institution, with the degree of 
B. A. The next year he spent in study at the University of Wisconsin, after 
which for one year he was engaged as druggist at the Oshkosh (Wisconsin) 
Insane Asylum. He then commenced the special preparation for his life 
work, entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Chicago, from which 
he graduated in 1887, and for the six months following he was at the Insane 
Asylum at Kankakee, Illinois. Having received appointment as Interne 
(first place) at the Cook County Hospital, he returned to Chicago to enter 
upon the duties of that position, in which he remained until the spring of 
1889. Taking up the active practice of medicine in Chicago at the close of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 133 

that period, he has continued there ever since. In 1890 he was appointed 
coroner's physician, serving as such until 1894, and meantime had become 
Adjunct Pathologist at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He had 
furthered his scientific acquirements by study in Upsala, Berlin and Prague, 
having gone to Europe in April, 1890. Returning to Chicago, he resumed 
active practice, and was elected Professor of Pathology in Rush Medical Col- 
lege, a position he has ably filled ever since. In 1900 he was honored with 
appointment as head of the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology at the 
-University of Chicago — a mark of esteem of which any physician might 
feel proud. As Professor of Pathology Dr. Hektoen exerts a strong and wide- 
spreading influence on the minds and careers of the hundreds of students 
who come under his charge. In January, 1902, Dr. Hektoen was appointed 
director of the Memorial Institute for Infectious Diseases in Chicago. He 
holds membership in the principal medical societies of the city, State and 
country, including the American Medical Association and the Association of 
American Physicians; has served four years as president of the Chicago 
Pathological Society; and was elected president of the Association of Amer- 
ican Pathologists and Bacteriologists for 1903. The members of the pro- 
fession are the best judges of a physician's real worth, whether in the line 
of research or practice, and such high honors are not bestowed unmerited. 
A record like Dr. Hektoen's speaks for itself, especially in the circles where 
the value of attainments like his is well enough known to be correctly esti- 
mated. 

In 1891 Dr. Hektoen married Miss Ellen Strandh, of Habo, Sweden, 
and they have one daughter, Aikyn. 



WINFIELD SCOTT HALL, Ph. D., M. D. 

Winfield S. Hall, born in Batavia, Illinois, on January 5, 1861, is the 
oldest son of Albert N. Hall and Adelia (Foote) Hall. The Hall family 
came from north England in the middle of the eighteenth century and settled 
in the northern part of Vermont. Two or three brothers of the second 
American generation went West and settled near Toronto, Canada. In 1838, 
Wesley Hall took his wife and family of five children, of whom Albert was 
the fourth, and moved from Toronto another step westward, to near Elgin,. 
Illinois, passing through Chicago when the city was a struggling village. He 
purchased two hundred acres of fine farming land on the Fox river, where he 
reared a family of eleven children, seven boys and four girls, inured to all the 
vicissitudes of pioneer life. 



i 3 4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

The Hall family, as represented in the Vermont, Canada and Illinois 
branches, are agricultural people. They are uniformly well-to-do, but no mem- 
ber of the family has ever accumulated wealth. On the other hand, none of 
them has ever sojourned in the poorhouse or any other county or State insti- 
tution for the "unfortunate.'' They are honest, industrious, economical, 
and temperate. They are free from any hereditary tendency to tuberculosis, 
neuroses or the "king's evil," and usually live to an advanced age. They are 
usually sanguine in temperament and not given to worry over this world 
or the next. 

The progenitor of the Foote family in America was Nathaniel Foote, 
"The Settler" (1593-1644), who married Elizabeth Deeming in England. 
With his wife and six children he emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony in 1630, and six years later, with John Deeming and others, made the 
perilous forest journey from Boston to the lower Connecticut valley and 
settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The descendants of Nathaniel Foote, 
"The Settler," number many thousands, now scattered throughout the land, 
but principally centered in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. A 
family genealogy compiled in 1847 shows that up to that time most of the 
Footes had been agricultural, though a very considerable portion had entered 
the learned professions. Among the descendants of Nathaniel Foote are num- 
bered members of Congress and of various State Legislatures ; college pro- 
fessors and presidents; circuit judges and a state governor; an admiral of the 
United States navy, and numerous commissioned officers in the army ; doctors, 
lawyers and authors of national repute. 

The Foote family possesses certain well-marked characteristics. They 
are usually of nervous temperament, and always aggressive and ambitious. 
They are industrious, energetic and thrifty, and are always temperate and 
honorable. No member of this family has ever been reduced to more than a 
temporary poverty, and the family contains no degenerate or criminal. There 
are no hereditary taints of any kind, no tuberculosis and no neuroses, and the 
individuals are blessed with unusual longevity. The members of the family 
have turned their activities to agriculture, trade or the professions, and have 
produced eminent men in theology, medicine, law. navy and literature, as the 
above enumeration shows. 

On January 5, 1861, a son was born to Albert N. Hall and Adelia Foote 
Hall. When a name was chosen, Lincoln had made his second call for volun- 
teers, war was in the air, and the boy was christened Winfield Scott. In a 
few weeks Albert N. Hall marched away with the Fifty-second Illinois to join 
Ulysses S. Grant's command in western Kentucky. He took part in the 
engagements at Paducah. Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth. A wound 
at Corinth retired him from the firing line for the rest of the war. Returning 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 135 

from the war in 1865, three years were required to so far mend his broken 
fortunes that Albert N. Hall could, with his family, now increased by a second 
son, join the great tide of army veterans who were going west to locate 
"soldiers' homesteads." Locating temporarily near Nebraska City, he later 
moved to the frontier, and took a homestead near Hastings, Nebraska, where 
he has remained to see a trackless plain develop into a thickly settled and pros- 
perous community, with fine schools, numerous churches, and other marks 
of prosperity and progress. 

The pioneer life with its privations and its adventures tended to develop 
the best that was in Winfield S. Hall. The names of Lincoln and Grant were 
household words, and the lives of these and others of the nation's heroes were 
ever held up by the parents as examples of what may be accomplished by over- 
coming difficulties. A difficulty was defined as something to be squarely 
faced and promptly overcome. The word "failure" was not in the vocabulary. 
The fact that schools were elementary in grade and accessible only in winter 
was no reason why one should not receive an education. With the father's 
encouragement and the mother's guidance, Winfield studied mornings and 
evenings in the winter and continued the studies through the summer, carry- 
ing Latin paradigms or mathematical problems to the field and mastering 
them while at work. At eighteen he began teaching in a neigh- 
boring district, boarding at home and walking or riding the four 
miles, morning and night. Two years later he held a first grade 
county certificate, and the following year a first grade State certifi- 
cate, which covered all the branches of a high school course. In the 
fall of 1 88 1 he entered the Freshman class of the Northwestern University, 
choosing the course in Modern Languages, Mathematics and the Natural 
Sciences. At the end of the Sophomore year his success may be measured 
by his winning of the prize in Botany and receiving "special mention" in 
Mathematics. The meager savings of his teaching all exhausted, it now 
became necessary for him to earn his way as he went. Having decided to 
enter the' medical profession, he entered the Chicago Medical College, which 
was affiliated with the Northwestern University, and earned his first year's 
expenses by delivering morning papers. The pittance ($3.25 per week) 
received for this seven-mile jaunt before breakfast every morning had to be 
expended very judiciously to cover the items of board, room, fuel, laundry, 
books and clothing. In the following spring he was put in charge of the 
Evanston Boat Club's house and boats, a position which brought him' again 
into touch with the college life which he had left so regretfully and which 
he longed to enter again. The following year he resumed his Liberal Arts 
studies, and received in 1887, from Northwestern University, the degree of 
Bachelor of Science, graduating with general honors in scholarship. During 



136 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

his Senior year in college he was made instructor in Mathematics and Science 
in the Chicago Athenaeum, teaching evening classes. This position solved the 
financial problem, and the opportunities for day classes and private tutoring in 
summer enabled him to have a bank balance of $500 at the end of his medical 
course. 

The medical studies were resumed, and in April, 1888, he received from 
the Chicago Medical College the degree of Doctor of Medicine. At gradua- 
tion from the medical school he won the Ingalls Prize of $100, given by 
Ephraim Ingalls to the one who should pass the best examination in the 
whole field of Language, Literature, History, Mathematics, Chemistry, 
Physics, Biology, Astronomy, Geology, and the whole medical course of three 
years. He won also the Fowler prize of a $100 set of oculist's test lenses, 
for the best examination in theoretical and applied optics. He also won an 
interneship in Mercy Hospital, Chicago. 

On October n, 1888, Dr. Hall married Jeannette Winter, and entered 
upon his interneship in November. During the year in Mercy Hospital he 
made a special study of a number of cases of Pathology, and on a thesis 
entitled "The Relation of Pathology to the Evolution Theory," received in 
June, 1889, from Northwestern University, the degree of Master of Science. 
About this time Dr. Hall received a call to the Chair of Biology at Haverford 
College, Pennsylvania. Accepting the call, he spent a semester at Harvard in 
special preparation for his new position. The four years spent at Haverford 
were years of the most intense activity. His teaching covered the whole field 
of Biology. Besides his work in Biology, he was Medical Director of the 
Athletic Work and Medical Examiner at Haverford, and at the William Penn 
Charter School of Philadelphia. Anthropometric data collected in these 
examinations formed the basis of an extended research which occupied much 
of his vacation time at Haverford, and which was finally finished in Europe. 
In June, 1893, Dr. Hall resigned his position at Haverford, and with Mrs. 
Hall went to Leipzig, Germany, where both entered the University. Dr. Hall 
taking up a special line of work in Physiology with the great master. Carl 
Ludwig, while Mrs. Hall continued, under Leukhart, biological studies pur- 
sued for four years in Haverford. 

In May, 1894, Dr. Hall completed a dissertation entitled "Die Resorption 
des Carniferins," based upon his work in Ludwig's Laboratory. Having 
attended the clinics of Thiersch, Curschmann. Zweifel and Schoen. he came 
before the Medical Faculty as a candidate for a degree. Passing the exami- 
nation successfully, he received in June. 1S94. the degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine from Leipzig University. He began at once, under the anthropologist 
Emil Schmidt, to complete the anthropological research begun four years 
before in Philadelphia. Choosing Anthropology as a major subject, and 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 137 

Zoology and Botany as minor subjects, he registered in the Department of 
Philosophy of Leipzig University as a candidate for the Doctor's degree, all 
requirements for which were satisfied, and the degree of Master of Arts and 
Doctor of Philosophy granted, in November, 1894. The dissertation entitled 
"Changes in the Proportions of the Human Body During the Period of 
Growth" was written in English for publication in London. After this, Dr. 
Hall studied a year in Zurich, Switzerland, where he conducted research work 
in nutrition, publishing at the end of that year two researches: (1) "Ueber 
die Darstellung eines kunstlichen Futters"; (2) "Ueber das Verhalten des 
Eisens im thierischen Organismus." 

Having accepted a call to the Chair of Physiology in the Northwestern 
University Medical School, Dr. Hall came to Chicago and entered upon the 
duties of the position which he now occupies in October, 1895. Dr. Arthur 
R. Edwards, secretary of the Northwestern Medical School, writes of Dr. 
Hall : "Professor Hall is eminently a college man, a man of great physical 
and mental strength, who is always ready to help students or his colleagues in 
any enterprise. He is most generous and sympathetic; and his work in 
physiology is but partly shown in his text-book on physiology. Personally 
he is one of the most sincere and steadfast friends a man could have." 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., writes: "Winfield Scott Hall, A. M., M. D., 
Ph. D., is one of the comparatively few men in the medical profession who 
prefers to devote his time entirely to scientific pursuits. With no other capi- 
tal than good mental endowments, good morals, and untiring industry, W. S. 
Hall with steady purpose worked his way through the College of Liberal Arts 
of Northwestern University and then entered its Medical School, from which 
he graduated as Doctor of Medicine in 1888, having stood in the front rank of 
his classes from the beginning to the end, and yet paying his way from the 
proceeds of his own labor,. Instead of entering at once upon the practice of 
medicine he accepted the Chair of Biology in Haverford College, Philadelphia, 
Avhere he rapidly gained a wider reputation and ' saved money enough to 
enable him to spend two years in the universities and medical schools of Ger- 
many, giving prominent attention to the general field of physiological science. 
At the University of Leipzig he was awarded both the degrees of Doctor of 
Philosophy and Doctor of Medicine in 1894. The next year he was elected 
to the Chair of Physiology in the Northwestern University Medical 
School, with sufficient salary to enable him to devote his whole time to the 
teaching of Physiology both in the lecture room and the laboratories. 
Accepting the same, he returned directly to Chicago and entered upon the 
discharge of his official duties. Personally Professor Hall is unassuming, 
gentlemanly and companionable, with a character for integrity and virtue 
above reproach. As a man of wide scientific attainments, and a thorough 



138 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

teacher and writer in the important department of physiology, he has already 
achieved a reputation second to that of no other physiologist in this country." 

From the Sisters of Mercy, under whose direction the Mercy Hospital 
is conducted, and who had the honor to be Dr. Hall's first pupils in physiology, 
we have the following contribution : 

"Prof. W. S. Hall has been connected with the Mercy Hospital of 
Chicago since the spring of 1888, at which time he became Interne, a position 
obtained by competitive examination. As Interne Dr. Hall gave perfect satis- 
faction in each department. He was well qualified for the work mentally and 
physically. His work was arduous, as at that time the science of Bacteriology 
was revolutionizing the medical world. A spirit of unrest and investigation 
seemed to arouse the mental activities of all who had the desire to advance 
and succeed in the medical profession. 

"Dr. Hall was among the foremost in the race for higher and better 
scientific work. At that time the Sisters were organizing a Training School 
for Nurses, in which work Dr. Hall was interested. It was at this time cbac 
Dr. Hall gave his first course of lectures on Anatomy and Physiology. Sis- 
ters and pupils came from St. Xavier's Academy and other schools conducted 
by the Sisters of Mercy to attend this course of lectures, and all who had the 
pleasure of hearing them derived much benefit from the knowledge of the 
subjects as presented by so able a teacher. We all felt that he possessed the 
qualifications necessary to make a good teacher, namely, a thorough knowledge 
of his subject and the ability to impart that knowledge to others. 

"Dr. Hall was not satisfied with the amount of knowledge he had ac- 
quired, but still hungered for more, as the Wise Man says of wisdom. 'Those 
who eat me shall yet hunger, and those who drink me shall yet thirst.' In 
order to satisfy this laudable hunger and thirst for wisdom, as we may call this 
desire for more profound knowledge, the Doctor went abroad. It was not to 
please himself, for what he proposed to do would require years of toil and self- 
denial in this labor of self-culture; it was in order that he might be the better 
prepared to become the bearer of those best gifts to others. Hippocrates says. 
'Godlike is the physician who is a Philosopher.' The subject of this sketch is 
truly a philosopher, and he wished to impart this gift to others, therefore he 
decided to allow others to light their lamps from the flame of his torch, feeling 
that his lustre was only heightened by passing on his light to illuminate the 
minds of all who came within his sphere of action. Whilst abroad he drank of 
the fountains of knowledge and studied the best means of imparting to others 
the science he had acquired. For this purpose he collected the many new appa- 
ratuses and appliances best adapted to demonstrate what he proposed to teach. 
viz. : Physiology in its fullest sense. 

"Thus prepared to give the most thorough course in all branches of this 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 139 

important department of medical science, Dr. W. S. Hall set forth to give his 
work in the clearest and most interesting manner. Like the great educator 
that he is, he aimed to create new interest and keep the minds of his pupils 
always fixed on the subject before them. At the Mercy Hospital we have the 
great advantage of again enjoying the instruction of Prof. Hall. When 
the curriculum of Mercy Hospital Training School was arranged by Dr. 
Frank Billings, and the name of Dr. Hall appeared, it was hailed with delight, 
for all realized the fact that we were to have a veritable intellectual treat. 
His lectures to the Training School after his return from abroad were most 
interesting and instructive, as he brought from the Northwestern University 
Medical School an entire outfit of apparatus in order to demonstrate each sub- 
ject. Mechanical iteration is the fault of many teachers, but the mechanical 
and chemical experiments of Dr. Hall are a source of intellectual joy and 
pleasure, as they remove the screen which concealed from us the mystic 
mechanism of our own existence. Beginning with cell life, he demonstrates 
from the lowest form of plant and animal life, and finally the highest form, 
namely, human life, entering fully into the five activities of cell life, Absorp- 
tion, Secretion, Respiration, Digestion and Excretion. 

"Dr. Hall is the first teacher west of the Alleghanies who introduced the 
methods and appliances which he uses in his lectures. The lectures on food 
stuffs and chemical analysis of foods are particularly instructive and useful to 
nurses. In their care of the sick, Dietetics holds an important place. Some 
one has said, 'Women are responsible for making America a nation of dyspep- 
tics.' If Dr. Hall's selection and cooking of foods be reduced to practice by 
our cooks or 'queens of the kitchen,' those who have the happiness of having 
his instructions carried out in their household should rise up and bless him for 
the health, wealth and happiness which may be theirs to enjoy for a lifetime. 

"We believe as a scientific teacher of his chosen subjects Dr. Hall is un- 
surpassed. A classic writer has said no better fortune can befall a common- 
wealth than to have superior intellectual men who agree to work together for 
the common welfare. Dr. W. S. Hall is such, and Chicago has reason to be 
congratulated on having such a man to hand his spirit on to future genera- 
tions. As Cicero is styled Prince of Orators, we may style Dr. Hall Prince of 
Teachers." 

Dr. George W. Webster, President of the Board of Health of the State 
of Illinois, speaks thus of Dr. Hall : "I have known Dr. Hall for many years 
as a student and teacher and educator, and I know him to be one of the fore- 
most and prominent physiologists of this country, a man of broad culture, lib- 
eral attainments, a thinker and scholar, and above all a manly man, imbued 
with the true spirit of real professionalism, that is. like Ruskin's reason for 
the esteem in which the soldier is held, 'he holds his life at the service of the 



i 4 o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

state.'- In the study of the alcohol question, as well as in many other questions 
of vital public interest, he has taken a prominent part." 

Among Dr. Hall's more important publications may be mentioned the 
following: (i) "Die Resorption des Carniferins," Archiv fur Anat. u. 
Physiologie, Leipzig, 1894. (2) "Changes in the Proportions of the Human 
Body During the Period of Growth," Journal Anthropological Institute of 
Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1895. (3) "Ueber das Verhalten des 
Eisens im thierischen Organismus," Archiv f. Anat. u. Physiologie, Leipzig, 
1896. (4) "Ueber die Darstellung eines Kiinstlichen Futters," Archiv f. 
Anat. u. Physiologie, Leipzig, 1896. (5) "The Regeneration of the Blood," 
Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. I, Baltimore, 1896. (6) "The Re- 
covery of Animals after Serum Transfusion," North American Practitioner, 
Vol. IX, Chicago, 1897. (7) "A Laboratory Guide in Physiology. - ' 350 
pages, published by Chicago Medical Book Company, Chicago, 1897. (8) 
"The Anatomy of the Central Nervous System, by Edinger," 446 pages, 
translation from German, published by the F. A. Davis Co., Philadelphia, 
1899. (9) "A Text-book of Physiology," 670 pages, Lea Brothers & Co., 
Philadelphia, October, 1899. (10) "The Chest Pantograph," Bulletin of 
Northwestern Medical University Medical School, July, 1900. (11) "Ele- 
mentary Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene," 270 pages, American Book 
Co., New York, 1900. (12) "Intermediate Physiology and Hygiene," 180 
pages, American Book Co., New York, 1901. (13) "Contractility," article in 
Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences, William Wood & Co.. New 
York, 1901. (14) "The Evaluation of Anthropometric Data." Journal 
American Medical Association, Chicago, 1901. (15) "Lymph." article in 
Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences. Vol. V, 1902. (16) "The Frog- 
Board Myograph," Northwestern University Bulletin, 1902. (17) "Taste," 
article in Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences. Vol. VII, 1903. (18) 
"Thirst," article in Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences. Vol. VII. 
1903. (19) "Training, Physical," article in Reference Handbook of the Medi- 
cal Sciences, Vol. VII, 1903. (20) "Vision," article in Reference Handbook 
of the Medical Sciences, Vol. VIII, 1904. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 141 

CHARLES GILMAN SMITH, M. D. 

Dr. Charles Gilman Smith, late of Chicago, was horn in Exeter, New 
Hampshire, January 4, 1828, and received his academic education in the 
Phillips Academy of that town. In 1844, at the age of sixteen years, he 
entered the Sophomore class of Harvard College, and graduated in 1847. 
He entered directly upon the study of medicine and attended his first medi- 
cal college course in the Medical School of Harvard, in Boston, 1848-49. 
On account of the excitement and confusion consequent upon the Webster- 
Parkman murder that occurred at that time he changed his subsequent Med- 
ical College attendance to the Medical Department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1851. He returned to Boston 
and served two years as Physician in the Almshouse Hospital in South 
Boston, from which he went to Chicago in 1853, anc ^ commenced work as a 
general practitioner. With excellent natural mental and physical endow- 
ments, developed and disciplined by a liberal collegiate and medical educa- 
tion, he rapidly acquired a good general practice and a high social position. 
During the Civil war, from 1861 to 1864, he was one of the six physicians 
appointed to take medical charge of the Confederate prisoners in Camp 
Douglas, and discharged the onerous duties imposed with skill and fidelity. 
In 1868 he crossed the Atlantic and visited the leading hospitals and medical 
institutions of England, France and Germany. When the Woman's Med- 
ical College of Chicago was organized in connection with the Chicago Hospi- 
tal for Women and Children, in 1870, he accepted the Professorship of 
Diseases of Children, and discharged its duties satisfactorily several years. 
He also took an active interest in the organization of the Peck Home for 
Incurables and was one of the Trustees of the Institution. Though a highly 
respected member, of the city, State and national medical societies, he made 
but few contributions to medical literature. He early took an interest in 
medical examinations for Life Insurance, and was employed by several of 
the leading Life Insurance companies many years. His literary attainments 
were of a high order. He was an active member of the Harvard Club; of 
the Literary Club of Chicago, and of the Society of Graduates of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. 

In 1873 Dr. Smith married Harriet, the youngest daughter of Erastus 
F. Gaylord, one of the earlier settlers of Cleveland, Ohio, and his home be- 
came a center of the most cordial though unostentatious hospitality. He died 
after a protracted period of ill-health, January 10, 1894, leaving a widow, 
but no children. 



i 4 2 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

WALTER S. CHRISTOPHER, M. D. 

Walter S. Christopher, whose high attainments in the medical world, 
and whose conspicuous individuality in seeking new methods, have won him 
an enviable standing among his professional brethren, was born in Newport, 
Kentucky, in 1859. The schools of Newport and Cincinnati afforded him 
ample facilities for a substantial foundation to his professional education, 
and he was graduated from the Woodward High School in the latter city in 
1876. His medical studies were pursued in the Medical College of Ohio, and 
in 1883 that institution conferred upon him the degree of M. D. During his 
last year in College he served as Interne in the Cincinnati Hospital. Dis- 
eases of Children had interested him above and beyond all others, and he 
prepared himself thoroughly to cope with that particular line of work. 
Immediately upon his graduation he was made assistant in the Children's 
Clinic in the Medical College of Ohio, a position he held from 1883 t0 1890. 
In 1884 he was made Demonstrator of Chemistry, and continued until 1890. 
Dr. Christopher did not neglect his own studies during these years he served 
as instructor. His untiring energy, his devotion to his calling, and his 
constant association with noted members of the profession, all tended to 
broaden and deepen a mind naturally alert. Hours were spent in patient, 
careful study, and each day was divided as would best serve to do and to 
gain the most. Success has always crowned the efforts of those who labor, 
not for the praise of the world, but to attain a real and lasting treasure. 

In 1890 Dr. Christopher was called to the Chair of Theory and Practice 
of Medicine in the University of Michigan. The following year he came to 
Chicago, where he was appointed Professor of Diseases of Children at the 
Chicago Policlinic; and in 1892 he received an appointment to a similar 
position in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 

Interested above all things else in his profession, Dr. Christopher has 
not confined his efforts merely to advance himself along the lines laid down in 
the past. On the other hand he has endeavored to educate the people to an 
intelligent conception of good sanitation. In 1898- 1900, he was a member 
of the Chicago Board of Education, and was instrumental in establishing 
the system of medical inspection of the schools, and also in establishing- the 
Child Study Department. In such innovations the Doctor naturally incurred 
much criticism, but with the sturdy independence of his nature he pressed on. 
leaving time to justify his actions, and to prove him some years in advance 
of the majority of mankind. 

On December 25, 1884, Dr. Christopher was married to Henrietta 
Wenderoth, and two children, Alice and Frederick, have been born to them. 
Dr. Christopher is a son of Charles H. Christopher, a mechanical engineer 






•j&mLs^ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 143 

born in Cincinnati (a son of William Christopher, a native of Maryland of 
Scotch descent), and his wife Mary A. Shield (a daughter of Francis Shield 
and Maria Moore of New York City). 

Dr. Christopher is a member and ex-president of the American Ped- 
iatric Society; and a member of the American Medical Association, the 
Illinois State Medical Society, the Chicago Medical Society, the Chicago 
Academy of Medicine, the Chicago Pediatric Society, the Chicago Pathologi- 
cal Society, and the Chicago Gynecological Society. He is also an honorary 
member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine. 

Dr. Christopher is the author of the following papers: "Summer Com- 
plaint," Medical News, March 3, 1888; "Intestinal Superdigestion," New 
York Medical Journal, November 9, 1889; and "Summer Complaint," read 
before the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, November 11, 1889, and re- 
printed from the Archives of Pediatrics, May, 1890. "Typhoid Fever in 
Infancy," reprinted from Archives of Pediatrics, October, 1892; "Starva- 
tion Neuroses," reprinted from Archives of Pediatrics, August, 1892; 
"Treatment of Summer Complaint," reprinted from the American Journal 
of Obstetrics, Vol. XXVII, No. 2, 1893; "Pathogenesis of Bronchitis in 
Infants and Children," read in the Section on Diseases of Children at Forty- 
fourth Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, and reprinted 
from the Journal of the American Medical Association, December 9, 1893; 
"A Plea for the Study of Pediatrics," reprinted from the American Journal 
of Obstetrics, Vol. XXIX, No. 1, 1894; "The Nutritional Element in the 
Causation of Neuroses," from Archives of Pediatrics, December, 1894; 
"The So-Called Intestinal Indigestion," reprinted from the Therapeutic 
Gazette, March, 1896; "The Relation of Medicine to Biology and other 
Sciences," reprinted from the Physicians and Surgeons Plexus, June, 1896; 
"Three Crises in Child Life," reprinted from the Child-Study Monthly, De- 
cember, 1897; "The Last of the Clinicians," reprinted from the Intercol- 
legiate Medical Journal, March, 1897; "Chicago Public Schools Report on 
Child-Study Investigation, March, 1899, to June 23, 1899," reprint from the 
Annual Report of the Board of Education of Chicago, 1898-1899; "Measure- 
ments of Chicago School Children," read before the American Pediatric So- 
ciety, Washington, D. C, May 3, 1900; "The Relation of Unbalanced Phy- 
sical Development to Pubertal Morbidity, as Shown by Physical Measure- 
ment," read before the American Pediatric Society, and reprinted from the 
Journal of the American Medical Association, September 11, 1901 ; Presiden- 
tial Address, "Development the Key-note of Pediatrics," American Pediatric 
Society, 1902. His lectures delivered in the Fourth Special Course of the 
Chicago Policlinic were: "Classification of Diarrhoeas, Etiology and Path- 
ology of Summer Complaint;" "Symptomatology and Treatment of Summer 



i 4 4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Complaint;" and "Infant Feeding," reprinted from the Journal of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association, April 30, May 7, and May 21, 1892. 

Of Dr. Christopher's work in and for the public schools, Graham H. 
Harris, president of the Chicago Board of Education, writes: "In connec- 
tion with Dr. Christopher's service on the Board of Education, it gives me 
great pleasure to state that I believe that his services are of inestimable value, 
not only to the public school system of Chicago, but to the world at large, 
in bringing about the introduction of the Child Stud) and Scientific Peda- 
gogy and Medical Inspection in the Chicago public schools." 

Among his professional brethren, Dr. Christopher is highly esteemed 
for his perosnal characteristics, as well as for his profound knowledge of the 
profession he adorns. 

Dr. John Ridlon writes : "Dr. W. S. Christopher is a very learned 
man ; no one is more eminent authority in diseases of children. He is an un- 
tiring worker, a profound reasoner, a gentle physician and a warm hearted 
friend." 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., writes: "W. S. Christopher, M. D., Professor of 
Pediatrics in the Medical Department of the University of Illinois, is a 
physician of much more than ordinary mental activity and professional at- 
tainments. During the seventeen years that he has been in practice, lie has 
devoted much time to the study of the Diseases of Children and their treat- 
ment ; and has attained a deservedly high reputation both as a teacher and 
practitioner in that important department of the general field of medicine. 
He has also manifested a commendable disposition to improve the sanitary 
conditions and regulations of the public schools, as a means of preventing 
disease among the children." 

Dr. Frank Billings, under date of October 1, 1903, writes: "Dr. W. S. 
Christopher is not an ordinary man. After years of acquaintance one finds 
that he is an exhaustless fountain of good things. One may know him 
thoroughly, and yet at every meeting one sees something new in Christopher. 
Dr. Christopher has the respect of the medical profession everywhere and 
is widely known. He is not satisfied with looking into the ordinary every- 
day pathology of Diseases of Children, but he is constantly on the alert for 
things which the ordinary man does not see. For this reason he has some- 
times been called a 'Faddist,' but this cannot be applied to him, for he is 
sure to look with a common sense view at everything, and the unique things 
which he investigates, he adds to and makes fit into his everyday practice. 
He has done much for the growing child, and especially has he worked in a 
sensible and epoch-making way for the school children of Chicago. Dr. 
Christopher has a charming personality and a host of friends both lay and 
medical. He is a charming companion and a friend upon whom one can 
depend." 





f^U^EJ^Ua^JL 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 145 

SARAH HACKETT STEVENSON, M. D. 

For many years, a quarter, of a century at least, Dr. Sarah Hackett 
Stevenson has been recognized as one of the leaders in medical thought and 
activity among the physicians of Chicago. The advantages of a training 
in the biological sciences under Huxley, Darwin and other eminent teachers, 
a privilege enjoyed by few American physicians, gave Dr. Stevenson an en- 
viable preparation for her professional career, and especially qualified her to 
fill the Chair of Physiology in the Woman's Medical College, to which she 
was called in 1874, later filling the Chair of Obstetrics, a position which she 
practically held continuously until within recent years. Dr. Stevenson's 
work in connection with the Woman's Medical College has without doubt 
contributed fully as much as that of any other person, perhaps we may justly 
say more than any other individual's labors, to the development of progress 
in medical education, and the Woman's Medical College, to which she has 
given an enormous amount of time and earnest effort, has kept pace with 
the recent developments in educational methods and requirements. Dr. 
Stevenson's resignation of the position she held so long in this College was 
prompted by her settled conviction that the time was come when the exist- 
ence of separate medical schools for women is no longer a necessity, a fact 
which has been amply demonstrated by the experience of a number, of first 
class medical colleges both in Chicago and elsewhere. 

Dr. Stevenson was born in Ogle county, Illinois. Her paternal ances- 
tors were Scotch-Irish from Donegal, Ireland. Her grandfather, Charles 
Stevenson, came to this country after the Irish Rebellion of '98 in which he 
took part. He purchased large tracts of land in and near Cincinnati, Ohio, 
and also in Ogle county, Illinois. His eldest son, John Davis Stevenson, 
born in 1805, married Sarah Hackett, of Philadelphia, a descendant of one 
of the old and prominent families of Philadelphia, who trace their ancestry 
back to Sir Ralph de Hackett, who was with Richard Coeur de Leon in the 
Crusades. Several generations of Hacketts are buried in the old St. Peter's 
Churchyard. The name of Davis belongs to the paternal grandmother, the 
same family to whom "Patriot Davis" belongs. Dr. Stevenson had five 
brothers and one sister: Richard graduated at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and 
went to Nebraska, where he became a member of the first Constitutional 
Convention. He and another brother, Simon, went into the Union army 
when mere boys. Another brother, Charles, became an officer in the Con- 
federate army, was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, and is buried at 
Salem, North Carolina. The brothers all died young, but the sister, Mrs. 
S. A. Schoop, is still living at Norwood Park, Chicago. 

Dr. Stevenson first attended the Mt. Carroll Seminary — then entered 



i 4 6 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

the State Normal at Bloomington, Illinois, from which she graduated in 
1863, and later took her degree from the Woman's Medical College of the 
Northwestern University. In 1874 she went to Europe, and spent two years 
there and in America in hospitals, and she has been in Europe six or seven 
times since in pursuit of her studies. Dr. Stevenson began the practice of 
medicine in Chicago in 1876. 

Dr. Stevenson is the author of a work on Biology for beginners, which 
was published by Appleton, and has an extensive sale, now being used as a 
text-book in the schools. She has also been a constant contributor to medi- 
cal journals. She helped to found the Home for Incurables, and she or- 
ganized the Chicago Maternity Hospital, the first of its kind in the city. 

At the annual meeting of the American Medical Association held at 
Philadelphia in 1876, Dr. Stevenson's name was presented for membership 
as a delegate from the Illinois State Medical Society, by Dr. William H. 
Byford, and was sustained by the President of the Association, Dr. Marion 
Simms, and Dr. Eastman of Indianapolis, she thus becoming the first woman 
member of that famous association. She was also the first woman appointed 
on the State Board of Health, and the first woman ever placed on the staff 
of Cook County Hospital. The Woman's Hospital on the grounds of the 
World's Fair, where 3,000 cases were treated, was organized by her, she 
being president of the staff. 

The Doctor's most prominent traits of character are, perhaps, inde- 
pendence in thought and action and her love of truth and justice. Though 
keenly sensitive to public opinion, and thoroughly alive to the value of favor- 
able popular sentiment, she has many times been brought into circumstances 
where she deemed it necessary to take an uncompromising stand against pub- 
lic prejudices and current opinion in defense of what she believed to be the 
principles of right and justice. Her clear moral vision and most profound 
respect and love for truth in all questions relating to human welfare, and 
especially in questions pertaining to the emancipation of woman and the 
holding up of better ideals of womanhood, have often brought .her to the 
front as a fearless and unconquerable champion of a new thought, or a noble 
principle struggling for recognition. 

Upon one occasion in which a discussion arose in the Chicago Woman's 
Club, involving the question of the color line, she made such an eloquent and 
effective appeal in behalf of the principles of universal brotherhood and sis- 
terhood that the inbred prejudices of the aristocracy of Chicago were broken 
down, and for the first time, a colored woman, educated, cultivated and re- 
fined, but truly African in physiognomy and tint of skin, was welcomed as a 
member into that most select circle of Chicago women. Thope who had the 
good fortune to be present upon that occasion declare ' t the address 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 147 

delivered impromptu by Dr. Stevenson could scarcely be matched for genuine 
eloquence by any utterance ever made upon the question of civil or social 
freedom. The apparently invincible opposition which prejudice had raised 
was utterly swept away by the force of the logic, appealing pathos, and the 
clear portrayal of the principles of justice and humanity which poured forth 
spontaneously, and with irresistible earnestness, from the soul of the speaker, 
who had made absolutely no preparation for the effort, and today cannot re- 
call a word of what she said. But a noble victory was gained in the cause 
of human progress, and impressions were made which will be as enduring 
as the everlasting hills. As a public speaker Dr. Stevenson has few superiors, 
and, if she chose to do so, she could* gain national reputation as a platform 
speaker upon any one of a large variety of the burning questions of the day. 

Dr. Stevenson, herself, broadminded and conscientious to an unusual 
degree, abhors hypocrisy, bigotry and narrowness, having not the slightest 
patience with cant or political chicanery. She has often made tremendous 
sacrifices rather than condescend to gain an end, or to maintain a position 
by the aid of those political and compromising methods which are commonly 
termed "tact." The love of truth and the pursuit of truth have led her out- 
side of the limits of the medical profession in many directions. There are 
probably few women in Chicago who have been connected with so many 
different lines of philanthropy and humanitarian effort during the last quar- 
ter of a century as has Dr. Stevenson. She has thrown her whole heart and 
soul into these enterprises, and constantly to the neglect of personal interests 
and at a great pecuniary sacrifice. This element of her character is well 
illustrated in the generous personal aid which she has given the American 
Medical Missionary College, and other purely humanitarian institutions and 
efforts. 

Often disappointed, sometimes misunderstood, and hence, more or less 
actively opposed, she has, nevertheless, by straightforward advocacy of right 
principles and the sterling defence of truth, easily maintained her place at the 
head of a conspicuous group of broad-minded, public-spirited Chicago wo- 
men, who, in the midst of a perverse and wrong-headed generation, are set- 
ting a strong tide in the direction of betterment and reform, by holding up 
before their sisters the highest and noblest type of American womanhood. 

Dr. Henry M. Lyman says of Dr. Stevenson : "Characterized by force 
of character, originality of thought, and great industry, more than any «one 
else of her sex she has aided in the diffusion of accurate knowledge in med- 
ical matters among the feminine portion of the community in which she 
resides." 

Dr. John Ridlon pays her the following .tribute : "The name of Sarah 
Hackett Sevenson stands as an illuminated initial at the head of the roster 



148 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

of women physicians of the West. For, more years than it would be gal- 
lant to say, Dr. Stevenson has been the most widely known of the women 
physicians of Illinois. A learned physician, a cultured woman, an untiring 
mind interested in every step that leads to the advancement of women, a 
commanding presence, taking at once a leading place — medical, political, 
social — over and above all, she is a woman generously endowed with all that 
charm and elevates." 

Dr. John Robison, a close friend, says of her : "I have known Dr. 
Sarah Hackett Stevenson for many years, and the acquaintance has con- 
firmed me in the opinion I have always held, that the field of medicine opens 
up a grand opportunity for, a brilliant career for women. Dr. Stevenson's 
success proves this proposition. She is a skilled practitioner, a scholarly 
woman, an author, a well-known traveler, a woman who is self-reliant, re- 
sourceful and energetic, as well as a leader of society. She is ambitious, but 
her ambition is ennobling. A calm exterior conceals a sympathetic heart, 
as my family has reason to know." 

Dr. Stevenson is attending physician of the Mary Thompson Hospital 
for Women and Children, and Dr. Lucy Waite, a member of the same staff, 
says of her: "Dr. Stevenson is a brilliant woman. The younger members 
of the profession value her professional opinion on account of the good judg- 
ment and common sense which she always brings to the bedside, as well as 
for the years of experience which makes a consultation with her of real bene- 
fit to both physician and patient." 



WILLIAM GODFREY DYAS. M. D., F. R. C. S. 

William Godfrey Dyas was born in Dublin November 4, 1807. His 
father was William Dyas, of Castle Street, Dublin, but the family is purely 
of Spanish origin, and one which took high rank among the noblesse of 
Spain, having held ducal rank in the north of that country, Burgos Castle 
being its former residence. In early times, owing to their adherence to the 
Albigensian faith, the members of this family became subjects of perse- 
cution by the Romish Church, and were ultimately compelled to flee their 
country. Landing in England, they received the protection of Elizabeth, 
then the reigning sovereign. Edward Dyas, the head of the family, subse- 
quently entered the army of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, then fight- 
ing in Ireland. For his valiant services performed there he became the 
recipient of various grants in Ireland, and in 1690, for other efficient ser- 
vices at the Battle of the Boyne, further grants were conferred upon the Dyas 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 149 

family. By this means the exiles hecame possessed of valuable properties and 
estates located in Counties Meath and Cavan. 

William Godfrey Dyas was of the fifth generation from Edward Dyas. 
When in his sixteenth year he entered Trinity College, Dublin, and thence 
was transferred to the Royal College of Surgeons, where he graduated 
in 1830. In 1832 he received the appointment of the Cholera Hospital, 
County Kildare, which was under the supervision of the government, re- 
taining this position during the epidemic of that year and until the closing 
of the hospital, when he was placed in charge of a fever hospital, and also 
three dispensaries, all of which were similarly under government control. 
In this varied and extensive field of practice he labored assiduously for the 
period of twenty-five years, when, on the approach of the memorable potato 
famine and its final consequences, and entire prostration of all activity, he 
returned to Dublin, and was appointed Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy 
at Trinity, his Alma Mater, acting under the celebrated Professor Harrison, 
of the University. His extended practice in Ireland, and his position in the 
Dublin University, brought him into contact with many of the leading 
scientists, surgeons and physicians of the old country, and from this associa- 
tion he reaped immeasurable benefit and the valuable fruits of experience. 
At the expiration of a year passed in the University, Dr. Dyas came to Amer- 
ica, in 1856, and immediately on his arrival in this country became connected 
with the medical journals, to which he afterward contributed many articles 
of acknowledged merit. In July, 1859, he came to Chicago, and for a few 
months acted as editor of the Chicago Medical Journal, under the late Dr. 
Brainard; ultimately, however, he was drawn into active practice, and was 
continuously occupied in attending to the manifold duties attached to a large 
and ever increasing circle of patients. 

Dr. Dyas was one of the prime movers in the establishment and re- 
organization of the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, and was elected 
President of that admirable institute in 1873; he occupied the Chair of 
Theory and Practice of Medicine. He was also Consulting Physician of the 
Woman's and Children's Hospital, and Consulting Surgeon of the 
Cook County Hospital, both of which positions were tendered him 
by the appreciative brethren of the profession. Dr. Dyas published no 
volume of medical works, although, in addition to less important essays, he 
was engaged for several years carefully preparing a collection of valuable 
facts and appropriate matter, which unfortunately was destroyed by fire, 
together with a choice library of medical and other works. 

Dr. Dyas was married, in October, 1830, to Georgiana Keating, daugh- 
ter of Rev. George Keating, Vicar of Mostrim, County Longford, Ireland, 
and again in October, 1861, to Miranda Sherwood, of Bridgeport, Connec- 



15° 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



ticut. His eldest son, George K. Dyas, was a favorably known physician in 
Chicago. Two of his sons are members of the Bar, one a resident practi-. 
tioner of Chicago, the other of Paris, Illinois. Dr. William Godfrey Dyas 
was killed by a railroad accident at Park Manor, a suburb of Chicago, in 
February, 1895. 



FRANCES DICKINSON, M. D. 

Dr. Frances Dickinson, President of Harvey Medical College. Chicago, 
and Professor of Ophthalmology in that now flourishing institution, is one of 
the most intelligent, industrious and successful women practitioners and 
teachers of medicine in this country. However, it is not alone in the field of 
her profession that she has won distinction. Every movement for the benefit of 
suffering humanity, for the advancement of her sex, for the uplifting and 
enlightenment of the race in general, receives her sympathy and practical 
co-operation, and many such movements have been set on foot by her per- 
sonally or through her influence. The spirit of broadness which prompted 
her to the study of medicine — a region of research then almost forbidden and 
comparatively unknown to women — has expanded with her horizon of use- 
fulness, and has led to her participation in numerous activities of professional, 
philanthropical, literary and social interest. She is counted among the most 
gifted of the many noble women in her city who have labored so zealously 
and effectively for the cause of woman's work, and is justly honored in their 
ranks. 

Dr. Dickinson was born in Chicago January 19, 1856, daughter of Al- 
bert Franklin and Ann Eliza (Anthony) Dickinson, and received her early 
education in the public schools of the city, graduating from the Central High 
School in 1875. For the four years ensuing she was engaged as a teacher 
in the public schools, but finding the scope too limited, and having decided to 
enter the medical profession, she abandoned her first work for the broader 
field. During her last year as a public-school teacher she attended a course 
of lectures on physiology given by Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, at the 
Chicago Woman's Medical College. Her original purpose was to qualify 
herself to give instruction in that branch. A glimpse into the possibilities 
of the future determined her to take a complete course in medicine, and in 
this respect she had an advantage over many who have entered untried fields, 
receiving the warmest encouragement and support from the members of her 
family, who made it possible for her to begin at once. Accordingly, in 1S80. 
she matriculated at the Woman's Medical College, in Chicago, where she 
took the full course, and proved an earnest student, graduating in 1883. with 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 151 

honors. She served as Interne in the Women's and Children's Hospital, un- 
der Dr. Mary Harris Thompson. Having meanwhile resolved to make a 
specialty of Ophthalmology, she took the course in that branch at the Illinois 
State Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago. With the thoroughness characteristic 
of her work in every line, Dr. Dickinson concluded to prosecute her studies 
still farther before entering upon independent practice, and in the fall of. 
1883 she went abroad with her brother, spending fourteen delightful months 
as student and tourist in Scotland, England, France, Algiers, Tunis, Sicily,- 
Switzerland and Germany. In London she had the advantage of study under 
the celebrated surgeon, Dr. Cooper, in the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital at 
Moorfields, and also attended the ophthalmic clinics at the Royal Free Hospi- 
tal, in Gray's Inn Road. While in Darmstadt, Germany, she was, for five 
months, under the private tutorship of Dr. Adolph Weber, who had a large 
private clinic and hospital of sixty beds attached to his home. This was the 
Dr. Weber to whom Von Graefe, the "father of Ophthalmology," willed his 
instruments, and under so devoted a teacher she could hardly have failed to : 
receive lasting benefit and inspiration. 

Since her return to Chicago Dr. Dickinson has been actively and suc- 
cessfully engaged in the practice of her chosen calling, in which she gained 
prominence within a brief period, and she is considered the leading woman 
practitioner in her specialty in the West. At one time she enjoyed the dis- 
tinction of being the only woman engaged as post-graduate instructor in 
Ophthalmology, filling that chair in the Chicago Post-Graduate School of 
Medicine. For some time she was Secretary of Harvey Medical College, of 
which she is now President, and where she also fills the Chair of Ophthal- 
mology. The institution is co-educational. 

Dr. Dickinson is an active and honored member of the City and State 
Medical Societies, and of the American Medical Association; of the Chicago 
Ophthalmological ,Society; the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science; and the Chicago Academy of Sciences. She was the first woman 
received into the International Medical Congress, in which she was admitted 
to membership at its ninth convention, held in 1887, at Washington, D. C. 
Since that year women have not been denied membership, in spite of the fact 
that the congresses have been held in foreign cities where women are not 
allowed equal privileges with men at the universities. 

Apart from the fact that she is one of the leading oculists of the West, 
Dr. Dickinson is entitled to rank among the progressive women of the day 
for intellectual vigor displayed in her association with various good works. 
Her many philanthropic interests receive the same attention as she bestows 
upon her regular professional work, and it is no doubt this unselfish devotion 
to the welfare of humanity in general, this disinterested labor in behalf of 



152 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



so many good objects, that has contributed to her popularity in her home city 
and made her name respected and beloved in many circles. Dr. Dickinson has 
never failed to avail herself of the many opportunities offered in her chosen 
profession for benevolence and charity — whether the circumstances called for 
the broad sympathy so essential to real success as a physician, or the practi- 
cal help which means so much to the unfortunate poor. She has always been 
a devout believer in the merits of the Christian faith and the application of its 
principles to the daily life. In her youth she was associated with the Metho- 
dists, being one of the active workers in the Centenary M. E. Church. 

During the Columbian Exposition Dr. Dickinson was a member of the 
board of lady managers, and was indefatigable in her efforts in that con- 
nection. She and Dr. Lucy Waite, the well-known woman surgeon, were the 
originators of the Queen Isabella Association, which was formed for the 
purpose of commemorating the labors of Queen Isabella in assisting and en- 
couraging Columbus. The material result of their work is the beautiful 
statue executed by Harriet G. Hosmer. Dr. Dickinson and Dr. Waite were 
also associated in another work of much practical benefit. At the time of 
the Johnstown floods they formed the first medical union composed of women 
of the various schools of medicine — the Illinois Medical Women's Sanitary 
Association — which immediately sent Dr. Kate Bushnell, Dr. Alice Ewing. 
and later Dr. Rachel Hickey, to the scene of the disaster. They were among 
the first on the ground to commence the work of relief, and remained there 
seven weeks in the prosecution of their noble purpose. 

Dr. Dickinson doubtless inherits many of the traits which have made 
her famous from a line of sturdy, intelligent ancestors on both maternal and 
paternal sides. Many of her maternal ancestors were physicians, and in the 
paternal line are found a number of schoolmasters; and in both lines we find 
them frequently being honored with and honoring public office. The Dickin- 
sons came originally from Wales. The Doctor's grandfather, Samuel Dickin- 
son, was the schoolmaster in his town, and one of the selectmen. Her father, 
Albert F. Dickinson, was a prominent business man in Chicago for many 
years, and from him the Doctor received every encouragement when she an- 
nounced her intention of adopting a profession for which he deemed women 
especially fitted. He was a man of broad character and wide sympathies. 
His wife, Ann Eliza Anthony, like himself a native of Massachusetts, was a 
woman of fine character and strong personality, and. in a quiet way. was 
quite active in charitable work in her early home and, later, in the city of 
Chicago. She was one of the organizers of the First Society of Friends in that 
city. She was an aunt of the famous woman suffragist, Susan B. Anthony. 

The first of the Anthony family of whom there is any record is William 
Anthony, who was born in Cologne, Germany, c^.me to England during the 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 153 

reign of Edward VI, and was made Chief Graver of the Royal Mint and 
Master of the Scales, continuing to hold that office through the reigns of that 
monarch and Mary, and part of the reign of Elizabeth. His crest and coat 
of arms are entered in the royal enumeration. Dr. Dickinson's line is traced 
throngh his son Derrick, who was the father of Dr. Francis Anthony, born 
in London in 1550. He was graduated at Cambridge with the degree of 
Master of Arts, and became famous as a physician and chemist. He was a 
man of high character and generous impulses, but he was intolerant of re- 
straint and in continual conflict with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 
He died in his seventy-fourth year, and was buried in the Church of St. 
Bartholomew the Great, where his handsome monument is still to be seen. 
Dr. Anthony left a daughter and two sons, both of whom became distin- 
guished as physicians, and John, the elder, founded the American branch of 
the family. His son, John Anthony, Jr., born in Hempstead, England, 
sailed for America in the ship "Hercules" April 16, 1634, when twenty- 
seven years old. He settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where he was a 
landowner, innkeeper and one of the public officials. His family consisted 
of five children, who left forty-three children, among whom was Abraham, 
the next in the line of descent. Abraham Anthony had thirteen children, one 
of whom, William Anthony, Jr., had four children, among whom was David. 
David married Judith Hicks, and they moved from Dartmouth, Massachu- 
setts, to Berkshire, same State, settling near the Adams foot of Greylock 
mountain. They had a family of nine children, of whom Humphrey An- 
thony, the second son, born February 2, 1770, at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 
was the father of Ann Eliza Anthony, mother of Dr. Dickinson. The Doc- 
tor's parents are both deceased, her father passing away in 1881. Besides 
the Doctor there are living two sisters, Hannah (Mrs. Charles C. Boyles) 
and Melissa, and three brothers, Albert, Nathan and Charles. The brothers 
developed The Albert Dickinson Company of Chicago, which is the leading 
firm dealing in grass seeds the world over. This unique and extensive busi- 
ness further exemplifies the organizing ability of the Doctor's family. 

Perhaps we can close this article in no more befitting manner than by 
giving the testimonial of Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., of Chicago, to the worth of 
this noble woman : 

"Dr. Frances Dickinson, President and Professor of Ophthalmology 
in Harvey Medical College in this city, is one of the most industrious, intelli- 
gent and successful female practitioners and teachers of medicine in this 
country; and is recognized as an active and honorable member of the City, 
State and National Medical Associations. Yours, etc., 

"N. S. Davis. 
"Chicago, Illinois, January 16, 1903." 



154 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 






HENRY T. BYFORD, M. D. 

Henry T. Byford, the distinguished son of an eminent father, was born 
at Evansville, Indiana, November 12, 1853.. His family relations, both 
lineal and collateral, have been set forth with some detail in the biography of 
his father, Dr. William Heath Byford, which appears on another page. He 
was educated at the Chicago public schools, at YYilliston Seminary. East 
Hampton, Massachusetts, at a high school at Berlin, Germany, and at the 
old Chicago University. 

Himself the son and grandson of a physician, it would have been strange 
had Henry T. Byford felt a vocation for any other walk in life, and he began 
the study of medicine with his father in Chicago, in 1870. He attended three 
courses of lectures at the Chicago Medical College, which institution is now 
affiliated with the Northwestern University, graduating as valedictorian of 
the class of 1873, when but nineteen years of age. He served a term as 
House Surgeon in Mercy Hospital. Being too young to receive a license to 
practice in Illinois, he spent a year in travel in Colorado and Louisiana with 
an invalid brother. He again returned to Chicago, where he has since resided 
and where he has gained imperishable fame. His career proved brilliant from 
the outset, but in 1879 a severe attack of sciatica warned him that over- 
work had impaired his health, and that a period of rest was absolutely essen- 
tial to the accomplishment of those great results upon which he had fixed 



156 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

tained as high distinction, and it may be added, without fear of successful 
contradiction, none have more richly merited it. Among the most cherished 
memories of Dr. Byford's life are his recollections of his father, whom he 
holds in tender loving reverence. On the fifth anniversary of his father's 
death he presented to Rush Medical College, on behalf of the children of Dr. 
William H. Byford, a bust of that great man, moulded in clay by Lorado Taft 
and cast in bronze. 

Dr. Byford finds relaxation from his professional labors in the study of 
literature and art. He is an amateur water-color artist of talent and skill, 
having been a student under Julien, of Paris. In 1882 he married Mrs. 
Lucy (Larned) Richard, and four children have blessed their union: 
Genevieve, Mary, Heath Turman and William Holland. 

Dr. Byford has written much, but always well; sometimes in conjunction 
with others, but more commonly presenting the result of his own individual 
study, experiment and research. He has written a Manual of Gynecology 
that has already passed through three editions. His name is associated with 
that of his father in the authorship of the last edition of their great work on 
"Diseases of Women." He is also one of the authors of the "American Text 
Book of Gynecology," published in 1894 in Philadelphia and London; also 
of Keating & Coe's "Clinical Gynecology" (1894); and has been associate 
editor of Sajous' Annual. He has also been a frequent contributor to periodi- 
cal medical literature. The following is a list of his published writings : 

Byford, Henry Turman — (1) "Function of the Membrane during La- 
bor," Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, March, 1885, Transactions, 
Chicago Gynecological' Society, February 20, 1885. (2) "Report of a Case 
of Leio-Lyoma of Vagina and Uterus," Chicago Medical Journal and Exam- 
iner, July, 1885, Transactions, Chicago Gynecological Society. (3) "The 
Treatment of Infant Eczema and Allied Eruptions," Journal American Med- 
ical Association, September 19, 1885, Transactions, Chicago Medical So- 
ciety. (4) "Nervous Paroxysm," Journal American Medical Association, 
November 21, 1885, Transactions, Chicago Medical Society. (5) "Report of 
a Case of Pelvic Abscess." Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, January, 
1886, Transactions, Chicago Gynecological Society. (6) "Production and 
Prevention of Perineal Laceration during Labor." Journal American Medical 
Association, March 6, 1886, Transactions. Chicago Medical Society. (7) 
"A Study of The Causes and Treatment of Pelvic Hematocele." June 18, 
1886, American Journal of Obstetrics. Vol. XIX. November, 18S6. (8) 
"Preservation des Membranes durant la deuxieme periode du Travail." 
Annales d' Obstetrique et de Gynecologic, Paris, August. 1886. (9) "Me- 
chanical Treatment of Retroversion of the Uterus." Journal American Med- 
ical Association. August 7. 1886. (10) Byford. William Heath and Henry 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 



157 



Turman — "The Practice of Medicine and Surgery as Applied to the Diseases 
and Accidents Incident to Women," fourth edition, Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 
vania, P. Blakiston Sons & Co., 1888. (11) "The Operative Treatment of 
Retroversion, Alexander's Operation/' a clinical lecture delivered at St. 
Luke's Hospital in March, 1888; Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
tion, March 24, 1888. (12) "Removal of the Uterine Appendages and 
Small Ovarian Tumors by Vaginal Section, with a Report of Twelve Suc- 
cessful Cases," read before the Chicago Gynecological Society, March, 1888; 
American Journal of Obstetrics, etc., Vol. XXI, September, 1888. (13) 
"The So-called Physiological Argument in Obstetrics," American Journal of 
Obstetrics, September, 1888. (14) "Twelve Months of Abdominal and 
Vaginal Section," Presidential Address delivered at the Annual Meeting of 
the Chicago Gynecological Society, October 19, 1888; Chicago Medical Jour- 
nal and Examiner, November, 1888. (15) "A Case of Ureteritis," North 
American Practitioner, Chicago, January, 1889. (16) "The Treatment of 
Retroversion of the Uterus by Operative Methods, Laparo-Hysterrorrhaphy," 
North American Practitioner, February, 1889. (17) "Inguinal Suspension 
of the Bladder," Clinical Lecture delivered at St. Luke's Hospital, February 
13, 1889, North American Practitioner, Chicago, June, 1889. (18) "Vaginal 
Hysterectomy," read before the Thirty-ninth Annual Meeting of the Illi- 
nois State Medical Society, May, 1889, at Jacksonville, Illinois, Transactions 
of Illinois State Medical Society, 1889. (19) "A New Method of Treating 
the Stump in Abdominal Hysterectomy," read before the American Gyne- 
cological Society, September, 1889. Transactions of the American Gyneco- 
logical Society, 1889. (20) "Three Peritoneal Sections Performed upon the 
Same Patient within Nine Months ; Vaginal Section, Abdominal Section, and 
Inguinal Section," North American Practitioner, Chicago, January, 1890. 
(21) "The Cure of Cystocele by Inguinal Suspension of the Bladder," read 
before the Chicago Gynecological Society, January, 1890; American Journal 
of Obstetrics, etc., Vol. XXIII, No. 2, 1890. (22) "Another Twelve Months 
of Peritoneal Surgery," read before the Chicago Gynecological Society, Feb- 
ruary, 1890; Journal American Medical Association, March 15, 1890. (23) 
A clinical lecture delivered at St. Luke's Hospital, March 26, 1890, Journal 
of the American Medical Association, October 4, 1890. (24) Clinical Lecture 
on the "Cure of Procidentia Uteri," delivered October 20, 1890, at St. Luke's 
Hospital; Medical News, December 13, 1890. (25) "Laceration of the 
Parturient Canal," 1890, read before the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, 
1890; The Physician & Surgeon, Detroit, February, 1891. (26) "Urethri- 
tis; Dilatation of the Urethra; Sounding of the Ureters; Anterior Col- 
porrhaphy; A New Method of Performing Lateral Elytrorrhaphy," a Clinical 
Lecture delivered at St. Luke's Hospital; International Clinics, April, 1891. 



158 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

(27) "Third Series of Peritoneal Sections. Comparative Study of one 
Hundred and fifty-nine Consecutive Cases," read before the Chicago Gyne- 
cological Society, April 17, 1891 ; New York Medical Record, May 9, 1891. 

(28) "Extra-Uterine Pregnancy Occurring Twice in the Same Patient," 
North American Practitioner, Chicago, June, 1891. (29) "The Technic of 
Vaginal Fixation of the Stump in Abdominal Hysterectomy," read before the 
American Gynecological Society, September, 1890; Transactions of the 
American Gynecological Society, 1891. (30) "Cases of Extra-Uterine Preg- 
nancy; Abdominal Section; Remarks upon the Treatment," read before the 
Chicago Gynecological Society, September, 1891; American Journal of Ob- 
stetrics, etc., Vol. XXIV, No. 2, 1891. (31) "Abdominal Hysterectomy for 
Intraligamentous Fibroid Tumor; Enucleation; Vaginal Fixation of the 
Stump," a Clinical Lecture delivered at St. Luke's Hospital, 1891. Interna- 
tional Clinics, October, 1891. (32) "Unusual Cases of Abdominal Section," 
read before the Chicago Medical Society, December 7, 1891 ; Chicago Medical 
Recorder, January, 1892. (33) "A Case of Abscess of the Gall-bladder 
treated by Abdominal Section," read before the Chicago Gynecological So- 
ciety, December 7, 1891 ; American Gynecological Journal, January, 1892. 
(34) "Vaginal Oophorectomy," read before the Chicago Gynecological So- 
ciety, December 18, 1891 ; American Journal of Obstetrics, Vol. XXV. Xo. 
3, 1892. (35) "Two Fetuses removed from the Peritoneal Cavity at one 
operation," 1892; Transactions Chicago Gynecological Society. 1892. (36) 
"Difficult Abdominal Sections," 1893, clinical lecture delivered at St. Luke's 
Hospital, 1892; International Clinics, 1893. (37) "Posterior Colporrhaphy ; 
Tait's Perineorrhaphy; Inguinal Colporrhaphy," 1893. clinical lecture deliv- 
ered at St. Luke's Hospital, 1893; International Clinics, 1893, Vol. II. Third 
Series. (38) "The Essentials of Success in Vaginal Hysterectomy," 1893, 
read before the American Medical Association, 1893; Journal American Med- 
ical Association, 1893. (39) "Obituary of A. Reeves Jackson. M. D.," 1893, 
Transactions American Gynecological Society, 1893. (4°) ''The Treatment 
of Uterine Fibroids," 1893, read before the Illinois State Medical Society, 
1893. (4 1 ) Clinical Lecture on "Vaginal Oophorectomy." delivered at St. 
Luke's Hospital, 1892; International Clinics, 1893, Vol. Ill, Third Series, 
page 272. (42) "Two cases of Abdominal Section; (1) Pyosalpinx; Intra- 
peritoneal Abscess; Encysted Peritonitis simulating so-called Urachal Cyst; 
(2) Hydrosalpinx; Hematoma of Ovary; Tubo-ovarian Cyst." clinical lec- 
ture delivered before the Post-Graduate Medical School, etc. : Denver Medical 
Times, 1893. (43) "The Best Method of Performing Trachelorrhaphy," 
Chicago Clinical Review, December, 1893. (44) "Appendicitis," Kansas 
City Medical Review, 1893. (45) "In Memoriam, Charles Warrington 
Earle," read before the Chicago Gynecological Society. v pril 20 TS94: Ab- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 159 

stract in Transactions, 1894. (46) Clinical Lecture on "Trachelorrhaphy and 
Adhesions of the Retroverted Uterus," delivered at St. Luke's Hospital; In- 
ternational Clinics, Vol. I; Fourth Series, 1894. (47) Clinical Lecture on 
"Prolapse of the Uterus — Alexander's Operation ; Abdominal Section for the 
Removal of Parovarian Cyst," delivered at St. Luke's Hospital; Interna- 
tional Clinics, Vol. II, Fourth Series, 1894. (48) "Choice of Radical Opera- 
tions for the Care of Uterine Fibroids," Transactions of Illinois State Medical 
Society, 1894, Chicago Medical Recorder, 1894. (49) Collaboration of 
American Text Book of Gynecology, 1894, W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 
edited by J. M. Baldy; 8vo, pp. 713, illustrated. (50) "Inflammatory Lesions 
of the Pelvic Peritoneum and Connective Tissue," Clinical Gynecology by 
Keating & Co., 1895; J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. (51) Manual of 
Gynecology, 1895, P. Blakiston Sons & Co., Philadelphia; i2mo, pp. 488, 
illustrated. (52) Clinical Lecture on "Oophorectomy and Uterine Curettage 
upon the same Patient. Interstitial Salpingitis. Hematoma of the Ovary 
and Pelvic Peritonitis," delivered at St. Luke's Hospital; Journal American 
Medical Association, April 7, 1894. (53) Clinical Lecture on "Hysterectomy 
in Inflammatory Disease," International Clinics, 1896, Vol. LV, Fifth Series. 
(54) "The Microbic Origin of Fibroid and Other Benign Tumors," North 
American Practitioner, February, 1895. (55) "Operations for Retrover- 
sion," clinical lecture, Medicine, February, 1896. (56) "Drainage in Peri- 
toneal Surgery," American Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, March, 
1896. (57) "The Romantic Side of Abdominal Hysterectomy," The P. & 
S. Plexus (College of Physicians & Surgeons), March, 1896. (58) "An- 
terior Suspension of the Uterus and Shortening of the Round Ligaments by 
Vaginal Section," Chicago Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal, June, 
1896. (59) "Vaginal Section for the Cure of Retroversion of the Uterus," 
read before the Illinois State Medical Society, May, 1896; Medical Nezvs, 
October 31, 1896. (60) "Drainage of the Stump in Abdominal Hysterec- 
tomy," Transactions of the American Gynecological Society, 1896. (61) 
"How Gynecology Should be Taught," The Medical Fortnightly, June 1, 
1896. (62) "Extirpation of the Rectum through the Vagina," Annals of 
Surgery, November, 1896. (63) "Shortening the Round Ligaments by 
Vaginal Section in Connection with Cysto-Hysterorrhaphy," Transactions of 
International Periodical Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Geneva, 
1896. (64) "The Present Status of Vaginal Section, with Record of Per- 
sonal Experience," Journal American Medical Association, April 24, 1897. 
(65) "Shall the Uterus be Removed when the Ovaries are Taken Out for 
Inflammatory Disease?" Denver Medical Times, July, 1897. (66) "A Der-. 
moid Tumor Weighing over Seventy Pounds," Western Medical Review, 
March 15, 1898. (67) "Lessons from Experience in Abdominal Surgery." 



i6o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Occidental Medical Times, May, 1898. (68) "An Improvement in the 
Technic of the After-treatment of Peritoneal Section," Transactions Illinois 
State Medical Society, 1888; American Journal of Obstetrics, Vol. 
XXXVIII, No. 1. (69) "How to Prepare the Hands for an Operation, 
The American Journal of Surgery and Gynecology, November, 1898. (70) 
"The Remote Results of Shortening the Round Ligaments by Vagi- 
nal Section." Transactions American Gynecological Society, 1899. The 
American Journal of Obstetrics, etc., Vol. XL, No. 1, 1899. (71) 
"Treatment of Hemorrhoids by the Plastic Method," Chicago Medical 
Recorder, March, 1899. (72) "The Intestinal Treatment of Tuberculous 
Peritonitis," Annals of Surgery, September, "1899. (73) "Criminal Abor- 
tion," Western Medical Review, July 15, 1899. (74) "The After-Treatment 
of Peritoneal Section," read before the Chicago Gynecological Society. De- 
cember 15, 1899. (75) "The Rest Cure Without Rest," The P. & S. Plexus, 
February, 1900. (76) "An Improvement in the Technique of the After- 
Treatment of Peritoneal Section," Transactions, Illinois State Medical So- 
ciety, 1898; The American Journal of Obstetrics, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, 
1898. (77) "Prolapse and Procidentia of the Uterus," read before the Amer- 
ican Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, May 30, 1901 ; The American 
Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal, July, 1901. (78) "Conservative 
Operations upon the Uterine Adnexa," The Medical News, October 5. 1901. 
(79) "Treatment of Prolapse and Procidentia of the Uterus*' (Spanish). 
Transactions, Third Pan-American Medical Congress, Havana. 1901. (80) 
"A New Method of Shortening the Round Ligaments Intraperitoneally for 
Retroversion," Journal American Medical Association, May 2. 1903; Trans- 
actions, Western Surgical and Gynecological Association. (81) "Spurious 
Dysmenorrhoea," Transactions, Southern Surgical and Gynecological So- 
ciety, 1903; American Gynecology, 1904. 



JOHN ALBERT ROBISON, A. M., M. D. 

John Albert Robison, A. M., M. D., of Chicago, Illinois, was born 
July 26, 1855, at Richmond, Indiana. The family is of Scotch descent. 
The Doctor's father, William Alexander Robison, was born in Kentucky, and 
his grandfather, John Robertson (as he spelled the name), was also a native 
of that State, and was a farmer by occupation. After his death his widow- 
married a Breckenridge, a cousin of General Breckenridge. William Alex- 
ander Robison early learned the cabinet maker's trade, but he engaged in 
contracting and building. He was also the inventor of many labor-saving 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 161 

machines, among which was the first tongueless cultivator, as well as wood- 
working machines of various kinds. For years he was connected as foreman 
with the Weir Plow Company, of Monmouth, Illinois. He was married 
in Ohio to Miss Mary Susan Graham, daughter of Andrew and Margaret 
(McK'ee) Graham, the latter a native of County Down, Ireland, and a sister 
of Samuel McKee, who was an engineer and contractor on the Illinois 
canal (he died a bachelor). Andrew Graham, Mrs. Robison's father, was 
a farmer by occupation. He was a son of Andrew Graham, a soldier of 
the war of the Revolution, who was married three times. The Graham 
lineage has been traced to the time when Graham of Claverhouse sent terror 
into the hearts of the Scottish Covenanters, from which stock the American 
lineage has descended. 

John Albert Robison is the only living son of his parents. He re- 
ceived his education at Monmouth, Illinois, graduating successively from 
the public and high schools, and from the classical department of 
Monmouth College in 1877, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 
receiving the degree of Master of Arts in 1880. He took the regular course, 
and special courses, in Rush Medical College, graduating in medicine in 1880 
with honor, being secretary of his class. After graduating he entered in a 
partnership with Professor Joseph Pressly Ross, Professor of Clinical Medi- 
cine and Diseases of the Chest in Rush Medical College, with whom he re- 
mained nine years, and whom he assisted in founding the Presbyterian Hos- 
pital of Chicago. The medical and hospital appointments which he has held 
have been numerous, some of them being as follows: From 1880 to 1888 
he was Attending Physician for Diseases of the Throat and Chest at the 
Central Free Dispensary, the clinical department of Rush Medical College, 
and also during this period was Lecturer on Materia Medica in Rush Medical 
College, and originated the practical method of teaching this department of 
medicine by familiarizing the students with the properties of drugs and 
their actions by actual demonstration in the class room. He was Attending 
Physician to the Cook County Hospital from 1884 to 1888, and in 1890 and 
1892. . During 1888 and 1890 he was Professor of Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics in the Woman's Medical College, as well as Instructor in 
Physical Diagnosis in Rush Medical College. When Rush Medical College 
was affiliated with the University of Chicago Dr. Robison was appointed 
Assistant Professor of Medicine, which position he resigned in 1901.. In 
1891 Dr. Robison was appointed Professor of General Medicine in the 
Post-Graduate Medical School, which position he filled until the school moved 
to the south side. He has held the same position in the Chicago Clinical 
School during the past two years. Since the founding of the Presbyterian 
Hospital, in which he took an active part, he has been Secretary of the Medi- 



1 62 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

cal Board, and Assistant Secretary of the Board of Managers. His first posi- 
tion in this hospital was Attending Physician for Diseases of the Throat, but 
in 1890, when Dr. Ross died, he was appointed Attending Physician for 
Medical Diseases in his place, which position he still fills. He limits his prac- 
tice to Internal Medicine, and is one of the pioneer physicans in this com- 
paratively new specialty. He has traveled extensively in this country and 
Europe, studying climatology, health resorts and the hospitals. Dr. Robison 
was one of the first to advocate the open-air and hygienic treatment of tuberr 
culosis, and has been gratified to see the views he advocated in the medical 
press nearly a quarter of a century ago now adopted almost universally. In 
former years Dr. Robison contributed liberally to the medical press articles, 
more especially on medical topics, but during recent years he has devoted the 
greater part of his efforts to the establishment of a State Hospital for Tuber- 
culosis. While he failed to secure the passage of a bill he had introduced 
in the Legislature for this purpose, he believes it has had the effect of prepar- 
ing the way for such action soon. 

Dr. Robison belongs to all the principal local, State and national 
medical organizations, and was a delegate to the International Congress 
which met at Moscow in 1897. In 1903 he was appointed the Delegate from 
Illinois by the Governor to the Congress of Tuberculosis which met in Lon- 
don. He is a member of the Committee on Tuberculosis which is co-operat- 
ing with the Visiting Nurses' Association in the measures being adopted -to 
prevent the spread of tuberculosis in Chicago. He is recognized as an 
authority on questions relating to tuberculosis, and has been appointed one of 
those who are to conduct the discussion on tuberculosis at the coming meeting 
of the Illinois State Medical Society. Dr. Robison is not of the aggressive 
type, attending to his private, consulting and hospital practice quietly and 
conscientiously, but successfully. His vast clinical experience has been care- 
fully utilized and developed his diagnostic ability, and while he is not a 
fluent speaker, he is an able writer, and many of his professional colleagues 
regret that he does not favor them with more articles relating his observa- 
tions and his views on various topics in the field of internal medicine. Were 
he more ambitious he perhaps would be more famous, but his patients would 
doubtless be none the better cared for. 

On May 19, 1900, Dr. Robison was married to Adaline Jessie Pyott 
Love, daughter of James M. Pyott. St., and Jessie (Fitchie) Pyott. the 
former of the firm of Holmes, Pyott & Co., foundrymen. Chicago. The 
name was formerly Piatt. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Third 
Presbyterian Church. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 163 

CHARLES WARRINGTON EARLE, M. D. 

Dr. Charles Warrington Earle, who passed away November 19, 1893, 
combined in his remarkable personality the leading traits of the New Eng- 
lander and the Westerner. The attractive qualities of both united in him 
in the formation of a nature notable for conscientiousness, unflinching in- 
tegrity and indefatigable industry, combined with wholesome geniality, 
broad-mindedness and humanity. He had the strong moral principle which 
guides the actions of the sturdy product of New England training, and the 
impulse which prompts the hearty good will of the Western character. He 
was entitled to be the representative of both, for he was a native of New 
England, and grew to manhood in the growing West. Born April 2, 1845, 
in Westford, Vermont, a small town in Chittenden county, not far north of 
Burlington, he spent his early years in that rugged region. When he was nine 
years old the family migrated to Illinois, settling in Fremont township, Lake 
county, and he continued his studies faithfully for the next six years, attend- 
ing public and select schools, and making such progress that he promised to 
be well prepared to enter college much before the average age. But to him, 
as to many others, came an important interruption. Only two weeks after 
he had completed his sixteenth year came the call to arms, to quell the 
Rebellion, and he responded with all the ardor of youth. Inheriting an in- 
tensely patriotic disposition which was strengthened by his early environ- 
ment and training, he threw himself into the cause of the Union from the 
beginning, enlisting in Company I, Fifteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
He was well grown, so that he had no difficulty in passing the examination, 
and though his father objected on account of his extreme youth, the lad 
finally obtained a reluctant consent, and went out to fight for his country. 
After, eight months' service with the command mentioned, campaigning 
through Missouri under General Fremont, he reluctantly acceded to the 
solicitations of his surgeon to accept a discharge and return home. His con- 
stitution had become weakened by the climate and the severe life, and he 
had been injured while unloading provisions from a boat, but his spirit never 
faltered. During the winter and spring he resumed his studies, attending 
school at Burlington, Wisconsin, and here his military ardor was again 
aroused. A battery of artillery was organizing at the place, and he was 
offered the position of bugler, but this time his father withheld the necessary 
permission. However, the youth was not discouraged. In the early summer 
of 1862 he wrote to Governor Yates, giving the facts about his service and 
asking to be placed in some position where his disability would be no draw- 
back to service. The Governor, much pleased at his enthusiasm and earnest- 
ness, made a personal reply, sending some blank muster rolls, with the sug- 



164 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

gestion that he help to raise a company, and asking him, in case he was not 
accepted, to write again. He at once enrolled himself, but when it came to 
examination he was told to "stand aside," and it was only on the plea of his 
captain and lieutenants, that he would be invaluable as a drillmaster, that 
he was accepted. With their promise to the surgeon that he would be made 
first sergeant of the company, he was allowed to be mustered in, and thus 
he became a member of Company C, Ninety-sixth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry ; within six months he became second lieutenant, receiving his commis- 
sion before he had completed his eighteenth year. Until the close of the war, 
with the exception of the time he spent in Libby prison, and later while ill 
with congestion of the brain, he was on active duty — an officer popular with 
superiors and inferiors alike, conspicuous for bravery in every engagement 
in which he took part, and faithful to duty to the point of looking after his 
men's welfare at the cost of much personal sacrifice. He was promoted to 
the rank of first lieutenant, and detailed on the staff of the brigade com- 
mander, first serving as aide-de-camp, and subsequently as inspector, and at 
the close of the war was brevetted captain, "for efficient and heroic conduct 
in action." He had commanded his company — the color company of the 
regiment — in a number of battles, distinguishing himself especially at 
Chickamauga (where be was twice wounded) and Nashville, was in the 
many battles of the Atlanta campaign, and was repeatedly mentioned in 
general reports, for bravery in battle and efficient service in campaign. He 
and fourteen enlisted men of his company were captured on Mission Ridge, 
through the negligence or timidity of a staff officer, and nine died in Southern 
prisons, Lieutenant Earle escaping from Libby, where he was confined, in 
February. He made his way out through the famous tunnel, and after a 
week's wandering through the Virginia woods, fighting hunger, fatigue and 
cold, and carrying his comrade — a man older than himself, who was on the 
verge of mental and physical collapse — he regained the Union lines near 
Williamsburg. After a brief furlough he was again at the front, bearing a 
new sword presented to him by his neighbors, and the recollection of his ex- 
perience as a prisoner kept him ever on the alert, lest some mistake or negli- 
gence on his part should cause another's capture. What wonder that he was 
the hero of all his men, an ideal officer, a beloved comrade, a man who was not 
afraid to be manly, no matter what the temptation or excuse to be otherwise! 
On his return to the paths of peace young Earle resumed his studies, 
entering Beloit College, where he completed a five-years course in three years, 
graduating with the degree of A. B. in 1868. Immediately afterward he 
took up the study of medicine, entering the office of the late Dr. William H. 
Byford, and matriculating in the Chicago Medical College. Medicine had 
been the profession of his choice from boyhood, and with his usual faculty 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 165 

for clinging to an object until its accomplishment was assured he never 
abandoned his early intention of adopting it as a life work. He graduated 
in March, 1870, near the head of his class, and began practice at once in the 
office of his preceptor. After the great fire of 1871 he settled on the West 
Side, and about this time he married Fanny L. Bundy, of Beloit, who, with 
a son and a daughter, survives him. From the beginning Dr. Earle displayed 
those qualities that make for success in the general practitioner, but his pet 
ambition was to become a medical teacher, and that he succeeded in both is 
but another evidence of his extraordinary industry and versatility. In 1872 
he was elected Lecturer on Zoology in his Alma Mater, and though Zoology 
was an optional study, and counted for nothing in the course, he made his 
lectures so popular that they were well attended throughout the course. This 
was the first instance of Zoology being included in the curriculum of any 
American medical college, and Dr. Earle applied all his energies to the task 
of popularizing an innovation, accomplishing a work to which he afterward 
looked back with pride. In 1876 he tried to interest others in the establish- 
ment of a new medical college on the West Side, near the Cook County Hospi- 
tal, but at the time he did not succeed in arousing sufficient enthusiasm in the 
proper quarters. However, when, a few years later, the project was revived 
by others, Dr. Earle's assistance and co-operation were at once invited, and 
he is therefore entitled to rank among the founders of the institution, which 
was opened in 1881, as the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a 
member of the first Board of Directors, and the first Professor of Obstet- 
rics, continuing as such until 1888, when, because of internal dissensions, he 
withdrew. Two years later, without the slightest solicitation on his part, 
in fact, against his wishes, he was unanimously re-elected, and his subse- 
quent position was more influential than ever. In 1892 he was elected 
Treasurer of the College and President of the Board of Directors, and he 
continued to hold both positions until his death. At that time he was also 
President of the Woman's Medical College, a distinction unusual even for a 
popular physician. Throughout his career he was known as one of the most 
enthusiastic advocates of medical education for women, and was one of the 
founders of the Woman's Medical College, to which institution, more than 
any other, he probably gave his most interested efforts. Soon after, it was 
opened he was elected Professor of Physiology, and he was connected with the 
college to the end of his days, subsequently filling the Chairs of Obstetrics, 
Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine, and Diseases of Children. He 
was the first teacher on this continent to occupy a separate chair on Diseases 
of Children. The Doctor also served as Secretary of the college, later, was 
made Treasurer, and upon the death of President By ford, in 1891, was 
elected President. There is no doubt that to Professors Byford and Earle 



1 66 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

the college was most deeply indebted for its strength and standing among 
medical institutions. Dr. Earle was also prominently connected with the 
Post-Graduate Medical School, of Chicago, in which he was Professor of 
Obstetrics, and in July, 189.2, he was unanimously elected Professor of 
Obstetrics and Diseases of Children in Rush Medical College, but he re- 
signed a month later, feeling that he was doing an injustice to his old college 
to abandon it. It was just such acts that characterized his whole life. He 
was honest and sincere about everything, his work, his ambitions, his likes 
and dislikes, never affecting anything he did not feel, and never hiding his 
opinion upon a matter of right and wrong, except when the expression of the 
opinion could do no good. His buoyant, cheerful disposition carried him over 
many hard places, and his frank friendliness and good-will toward all not 
only brought him the friendship of others, but made good feeling in many 
places where such a sentiment would have seemed impossible. He was eager 
and enthusiastic in every cause into which he threw his energies, but his was 
not the partisanship that merely arouses enmity, and as a consequence he was 
not respected among one set of physicians only, or in one college, but in all, 
in this respect having an unparalleled reputation among medical men. 

Dr. Earle had numerous connections besides those already mentioned. 
For seventeen years he was Attending Physician to the YVashingtonian Home, 
and toward the close of his life was Attending Physician to the Wesley Hospi- 
tal. He was a prominent member of various medical societies, among them 
the Chicago Medical Society (of which he was President at the time of his 
death), the Illinois State Medical Society (of which he had also served as 
President), the American Pediatric Society (charter member), the Cbicago 
Medico-Legal Society, the Chicago Pathological Society, the Practitioners' 
Club, the Chicago Gynecological Society, the American Medical Association 
and the British Medical Association. He was one of the organizers of the 
Chicago Gynecological Society, of which he served as President, and took 
especial interest in its work. In all these organizations he was a leader, 
heading every movement for the advancement of the profession, and ren- 
dering invaluable official services in many instances. In fact, it was this 
working trait in Dr. Earle which was undoubtedly responsible for his death 
at a comparatively early age. It was not enough for him to be interested. 
He had to be up and doing, and with a physical and mental constitution al- 
most unequalled for strength and endurance he labored incessantly, with 
heart and soul in his work, successful in almost every line, hopeful always, no 
matter how dark the prospect, and encouraging and sustaining others by 
the neverfailing doctrine of good cheer which was part and parcel of his 
nature. He was a prolific writer on medical subjects, being a constant con- 
tributor to the professional periodicals, and one of the writers of Keating's 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 167 

Encyclopedia of Diseases of Children, and the American Text Book of Dis- 
eases of Children; when taken down with the illness which caused his death 
he was preparing the article which appeared in the American Text Book of 
Obstetrics. Apart from this he wrote noteworthy essays on temperance, 
education, military matters and other subjects in which he was especially 
interested. 

With all this work of an educational nature, it may be difficult to under- 
stand how Dr. Earle maintained his large private practice. But maintain it 
he did, and though he employed an assistant for some years before his death, 
it was a feat which many a doctor would have failed to accomplish even had 
he devoted his whole time to family practice. There is nothing remarkable 
in a physician having charity patients. The medical profession offers a wider 
field for practical benevolence than any other. But to be the hope of so 
many of the earth's unfortunate, the one to whom they turned with the as- 
surance that he would aid them resting on many like experiences, is not the 
lot of every physician. Dr. Earle's big heart was never more in evidence 
than in his dealings with these patients, to whom he gave the same care, the 
same sympathy, and the same kindly consideration that he bestowed upon 
his wealthiest patrons. Truly he was no respecter of persons. His practice 
was lucrative, but he did not follow it for that reason, as the affectionate 
esteem of all who came under his care testifies. They loved him and confided 
in him — in fact he was the ideal family physician. 

In social life and in the domestic circle Dr. Earle was at his best. It 
would seem that he had little time for such matters. But he had a genial, 
social nature, that craved friendly companionship and home love, and he 
satisfied it with active membership in various social organizations, notably 
the Illinois Club, the Lincoln Club and the Irving Literary Society, in whose 
meetings he was ever a welcome presence, and he was a favorite speaker. 
He was a good singer, fond of music, and took the keenest delight in the 
pleasures of society, for which he wa^ emin> ntly fitted. His services in the 
Union army entitled him to membership in the Loyal Legion, in which he 
was as popular as in every other organization with which he was connected. 

The wideness of Dr. Earle's influence was never perhaps as fully demon- 
strated as at the time of his death, the resolutions of sympathy and regret 
passed by numerous societies showing how many interests and lives he 
touched. Memorial meetings were held by the Chicago Medical Society, the 
Chicago Pathological Society, the American Pediatric Society, the Illinois 
Club and the Irving Literary Society. Resolutions of sympathy were passed 
by the Woman's Medical College, the Executive Committee of the Board 
of Trustees of the Northwestern University, the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, the students of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the 



1 68 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Practitioners' Club of Chicago, the Chicago Training School for City, Home 
and Foreign Missions, the Loyal Legion and the Congregational Club of 
Chicago. On March 9, 1894, a bust of Dr. Earle was unveiled in the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, the address on that occasion being delivered 
by Dr. William E. Quine, the President of the Faculty, and a close personal 
friend and co-worker for many years. To this eminent man we are indebted 
for many of the facts used in the compilation of this article, and the following 
tribute is from his pen : 

"Dr. Earle was a man of magnificent physique and charming personality. 
Enthusiastic, responsive, and true to the highest ideals of professional and 
personal honor, he was beloved and respected by his medical brethren, and 
was a tower of strength to the sick who entrusted their lives to his keeping. 
He broke acquaintance with his friends while in the very zenith of activity 
and power, and passed into memory November 19, 1903." 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., has this to say of Dr. Earle and his work : 

"The late Dr. Charles Warrington Earle, of Chicago, was well known 
to me from his medical student days to the time of his death. He was fav- 
ored with an excellent physical development, and with intellectual and moral 
faculties of a high order and thoroughly disciplined by education and untiring 
industry. Consequently he was one of the most active and successful practi- 
tioners and teachers of medicine in Chicago, and an excellent example of 
good citizenship. 

"Though his college teaching was limited mostly to Obstetrics and Dis- 
eases of Children, in practice he was a very industrious, considerate and 
clear-headed general practitioner of medicine. He was a good writer and 
reported many interesting cases and papers in the medical periodicals, and in 
the several medical societies of which he was a member. And yet he never 
forgot or neglected the true social, moral and religious interests of the com- 
munity in which he lived." 



FRANK BILLINGS, M. D. 

Frank Billings, M. D., is a man in the prime of life, whose wonderful 
professional success is the best evidence of his native genius and his chosen 
application to study. As the eminent surgeon. Dr. J. B. Murphy, has well 
said of him. "He was one of the first physicians to apply in every day prac- 
tice the most recent scientific knowledge in bacteriology, pathology and chem- 
istry; and. as the science has groWn, he has kept well apace with its advance- 
ments, and has been its leader in many.'" 

Dr. Billings was born April 2, 1854. at Highland. Iowa county. Wis- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 169 

consin, the fourth son of Henry M. and Ann (Bray) Billings. Until he had 
reached the age of seventeen, he remained upon his father's farm. Attend- 
ance upon the common schools was supplemented by a course of study in 
the Normal School, at Platteville, and that was followed by a comparatively 
long experience as a teacher in the class room. He began the study of his 
chosen profession, in which he was destined to rise to an eminence which he 
himself could scarcely have foreseen, in 1877, when he entered as a student 
the office of Dr. W. H. Van Dusen, at Montfort, in his native State. The 
following year he matriculated at the Chicago Medical College, and re- 
ceived the degree of M. D. from that institution, in course, in 1881. Nine 
years later the Northwestern University conferred upon him the honorary 
degree of Master of Science. Immediately upon graduation he was ap- 
pointed an interne in the Cook County Hospital, a post whose duties he dis- 
charged with painstaking conscientiousness from March 31, 1881, until 
September 30, 1882, when he was invited by his Alma Mater to become 
Demonstrator of Anatomy in the College. For three years he retained this 
position, having meanwhile, in 1883, been appointed a Lecturer on Physical 
Diagnosis. The years 1885 and 1886 he spent abroad, studying in the hos- 
pitals of Paris, London and Vienna, and in 1887 he gave up his position as 
lecturer, to fill the Chair of Physical Diagnosis in the same institution. Four 
years later he was transferred to the Professorship of Medicine and Clinical 
Medicine, and in 1898 he severed his connection with the Chicago Medical 
College to enter the Faculty of Rush, as Professor of Medicine, and (1900) 
became head of the Department of Medicine and Dean of the Faculty in 
that institution. 

Dr. Billings has a large and lucrative practice, which he has acquired 
through his own pre-eminent skill, recognized capability and high moral 
worth. Of him Dr. Senn writes: "Dr. Billings is at the present time the 
most eminent practitioner in Chicago. He enjoys the confidence of the pro- 
fession and public to the fullest extent. He is a popular and forcible teacher 
of medicine." Concerning his character and attainments Dr. Henry T. By- 
ford, writing of him, says : "His success has been phenomenal. On his re- 
turn to Chicago in 1886, after two years of study abroad, he rose rapidly 
to the front in the practice of medicine, and has maintained his position ever 
since. His chief characteristics are great thoroughness and progressiveness, 
joined to extraordinary powers of physical endurance. He has established 
a great reputation as a diagnostician, and represents a high type of a self- 
made man and an American gentleman." And to quote from Dr. Ridlon: 
"He is in the front rank of medical practitioners and consultants for internal 
diseases. He is pre-eminent in his control of patients, and a masterful leader 
among his associates. His is a forceful and rugged character, that goes 



i 7 o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

on to success whatever be the surroundings. He is a generous friend, en- 
tirely wanting in petty jealousies, and ever ready to lend a helping hand to 
a young man in the profession, if that man is worthy of respect and confi- 
dence." The late Dr. Fenger wrote of Dr. Billings: "The medical pro- 
fession should congratulate itself that Dr. Billings resisted the temptation of 
a brilliant business career which was offered him, and stood fast to his chosen 
profession. In that profession he has made a still more brilliant success. 
His success is due to an extraordinary capacity for hard work and study 
added to an exceptional natural ability. As a diagnostician, clinician and a 
teacher he is without a peer. He also has pre-eminent qualifications as an 
executive officer, as has been demonstrated in his conduct of the affairs of 
the institutions of learning with which he has been and is connected. His 
contributions to the literature are always clear, concise, exhaustive, and are 
read with interest, not only by general practitioners, but by those whose lines 
of work lie outside of the domain of general medicine." These words of 
eulogy from men renowned in the same walk of life with himself attest 
the high esteem in which Dr. Billings is held by his professional brethren, 
who are most competent to judge of his qualifications. Dr. X. S. Davis. Sr., 
adds this tribute of praise : "He is one of the most enterprising, industrious 
and successful practitioners and teachers of medicine in our city;" while Dr. 
H. B. Favill speaks of him as "possessing a thorough scientific equipment and 
exceedingly sound judgment, which enable him to gain a quicker, firmer 
grasp of the question before him than many men who are much more techni- 
cal." And he adds, "I consider him both able and broad." Dr. William E. 
Quine writes: "Dr. Billings is a vigorous and wholesome man. Of line 
physique and presence, of friendly frankness of manner that sometimes 
amounts to bluntness, and a great positiveness in the feeling and expression 
of his opinions and convictions, he cannot fail to impress the observer as a 
man of sincerity and power. He is a man who can laugh heartily and long — 
but he does not spend much of his time that way. He is a cheery companion, 
a noble friend and a large hearted and broad minded gentleman. As a phy- 
sician he occupies a position of pre-eminence among his brethren of the pro- 
fession. A painstaking observer, a hard-headed thinker and a systematic 
recorder of his professional work, and trained in every method of refine- 
ment in respect to the diagnosis and treatment of disease, he has earned by 
the arduous process of unremitting labor the enviable and deserved position 
of eminence which he possesses. He is a great diagnostician and a sound 
and resourceful therapeutist. As a teacher Dr. Billings is direct, forceful, 
systematic, cautious as to his utterances, and profoundly impressive. Na- 
ture has made him a leader of men — and no member of the profession of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 171 

Chicago surpasses him in regard to the extent and loyalty of his professional 
following." 

His high standing in the profession has brought his services into con- 
stant and earnest request as attending and consulting physician at many 
hospitals, yet he has found it possible to accept only a few, comparatively, 
of the many invitations of this character which he has received. He is at- 
tending physician at the Presbyterian, Cook County and St. Luke's Hospi- 
tals, and a consultant at the Passavant Memorial, the Providence, the Michael 
Reese, the Maurice Porter and the Mary Thompson Hospital for Women 
and Children. 

Notwithstanding the onerous nature and complex character of the many 
exacting calls upon his time, Dr. Billings finds opportunity and inclination 
to mingle with his professional brethren and co-scientists in several societies 
for study and interchange of thought and discoveries. From 1887 to 1889 
he was secretary of the Chicago Medical Society, and in 1890 he was chosen 
its president. He was chosen president of the American Medical Associa- 
tion in 1902. He is also a member of the American Association of Phy- 
sicians, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Chicago Medical Society, the 
Chicago Society of Internal Medicine, Chicago Medico-Legal Society, 
Chicago Pathological Society and the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Be- 
fore many of these he has read carefully prepared papers, exhibiting deep 
research and a comprehensive grasp of the subject treated. In addition he 
has been a valued contributor to various medical journals throughout the 
country, always writing with a facile yet forceful pen. Among his best 
known essays and brochures are the following: "The Cultivation of Bac- 
teria and Exhibition of Cultures," read before the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, 1887; "Medicine," an address before the Illinois Medical Society, 
1888; "Typhoid Bacillus, with Exhibition of Cultures," read before the 
Chicago Medical Society, December 17, 1888; "A Case of Renal Calculus," 
read before -the same body, March 6, 1889; "A Case of Renal Calculus, with 
Exhibition of Kidney Containing Calculi," read May 20, 1889; "Detection 
of Tubercle Bacilli," Journal American Medical Association, March, 1889; 
"Sarcoma of Spinal Cord, Removal During Life," read before the Chicago 
Medical Society, June 17, 1889; "Cirrhosis of Liver," read before the same 
body and published in the Chicago Recorder, October 31, 1891 ; "Koch's 
Lymph," an address before the Illinois State Medical Society, 1891 ; "Med- 
ical Treatment of Diseases of the Stomach," read before the Chicago Medical 
Society and published in the Chicago Medical Recorder, December 21. 1891 ; 
"Carcinoma of the Pancreas ; Secondary Carcinomatous Infiltration of Com- 
mon Bile Duct; Jaundice; Autopsy," Chicago Clinical Review, April, 1893; 
"Arterio-Sclerosis," published in Transactions Illinois State Medical Society, 



1 72 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

1894; " Arthropathies of Nervous Origin," Chicago Medical Recorder, 
February, 1895; "Cystic Degeneration of the Kidney," read before the 
Chicago Medical Society, and published in 'Medicine, May, 1895; "Inter- 
costal Neuralgia," Chicago Medical Recorder, October, 1895 ; "Vegetative 
Endocarditis," and "Medical Treatment of Gall Stones," both papers read 
before the Chicago Medical Society in 1898; "Headaches from Gastro In- 
testinal Disorders," read before the American Medical Association, and pub- 
lished in the American Medical Journal, September, 1899; "Pernicious 
Anaemia," Chicago Medical Recorder, October, 1899; "The Treatment of 
Typhoid Fever," Chicago Society of Internal Medicine, Journal of Ameri- 
can Medical Association, February 24, 1900; "Pneumococcus Infection," 
Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, January 9, 1900; "The Relation of Gen- 
eral Medicine to the Specialist," Chicago Medical Society, January, 1898: 
The Medical Standard, February, 1898; "The Limitations of Medicine," 
address delivered at opening exercises of Rush Medical College, September 
27, 1898: Journal American Medical Association, October 22, 1898; "The 
Differentiation of the Cardiac Incompetency of Intrinsic Heart Disease and 
of Chronic Nephritis," read in Section on Practice of Medicine, of American 
Medical Association, Denver, Colorado, June, 1898: Journal American 
Medical Association, July 16, 1898; Gastro-Duodenal Disorders Due to Im- 
proper modes of Living," address in Michigan State Medical Society. Mack- 
inac Island, Michigan, July, 1900: Transactions Michigan State Medical 
Society, 1900; "Report of Cases of Pernicious Anaemia, with Special Refer- 
ence to the Blood Findings," read at meeting of the Association of American 
Physicians, at Washington, D. C, May 1, 1900: Transactions Association 
of American Physicians, 1900; "Two Interesting Cases: Gallstone of the 
Cystic Duct with Situs Viscerum Inversus; and Gumma of the Liver." 
Philadelphia Medical Journal, October 6, 1900; "Carcinoma of Pylorus, 
Secondary to Round Ulcer; Perforation; Resection of Pylorus: Recovery." 
American Medicine, April 6, 1901 ; "Pernicious Anaemia, Report of Progress 
of Cases Presented to the Association in 1900, and Report of a Case with 
Diffuse Spinal Cord Lesions, with Post Mortem Findings." read at meeting 
of Association of American Physicians, 1901 : Journal American Medical 
Association, August 24. 1901 ; "The Limitations of Medical Therapeutics." 
address on Medicine delivered before Ohio State Medical Society. May 8. 
1901 : The Medical News, February 15, 1902; '"Uric Acid Fallacies." ad- 
dress on Medicine delivered before the Illinois State Medical Society, Peoria, 
May 22, 1901 : Illinois Medical Journal, 1901 ; "The Clinical Manifestations 
of Pericarditis," read in the Section of the Practice of Medicine of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association, St. Paul. Minnesota. June 7. 1901 : Journal Amer- 
ican Medical Association, 1901 : "What are the Qualifications Necessary for 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 173 

Success in the Practice of Medicine?" address on Medicine at the Annual 
Meeting of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, Put-in-Bay, Ohio, 
September 13, 1901 : Medicine, November, 1901 ; "Clinical Manifestations 
of the Early Stages of Cirrhosis of the Liver," read at meeting of Association 
of Physicians at Washington, D. C, April 30, 1902 : Journal American Med- 
ical Association, June 7, 1902; "The Relation of Medical Science to Com- 
merce," oration on Medicine delivered at Fifty-third annual session Amer- 
ican Medical Association, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., June 11, 1902: Journal 
American Medical Association, and other journals, June, 1902; The Shat- 
tuck Lecture: "The. Changes in the Spinal Cord and Medulla in Pernicious 
Anaemia," delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society, June io, 1902 : 
Transactions Massachusetts Medical Society, 1902. 

At the time of Dr. Billings's election to the presidency of the American 
Medical Association, in 1902, the Journal of that Association said editorially: 
"The election of Dr. Frank Billings as President of the Association for the 
ensuing year meets with general favor on all sides. A more generally satis- 
factory choice could hardly have been made. In the first place all who know 
something of the personality of the new President find in him a fortunate 
blending of qualities that go to make successful leaders in professional 
and educational affairs. Energetic, forceful, judicious, and withal sympa- 
thetic — these are some of the more prominent general characteristics that 
have placed Dr. Billings in such high esteem in the community and in the 
medical profession. Not yet fifty years of age, his professional career began 
as interne in the Cook County Hospital after graduation from the Chicago 
Medical College (now the Northwestern Medical School), a little more than 
twenty years ago. This was followed by a period of arduous study in 
Vienna, where his industry and comprehensive grasp of clinical problems 
soon attracted the special attention of his teachers, all of whom followed his 
subsequent development into a leading practitioner and teacher with personal 
interest. Returning to Chicago he became identified with his Alma Mater. 
* * * Needless to say he has always been prominent in all endeavors 
toward raising the standards of medical education and the better organization 
of the medical profession, taking an active and prominent part in local, State 
and National societies. From time to time he has made valuable contributions 
to medical literature. * * * As a teacher he is valued especially for his 
clearness, thoroughness, and the application of modern methods in clinical 
medicine, encouraging investigation and research on the part of assistants and 
students. Finally, mention should be made of his exemplary conduct as a citi- 
zen of a young metropolis in devoting much time and energy to the improve- 
ment in the management and to the upbuilding of its medical and scientific 
institutions. These are some of the principal achievements of the vigorous and 



i 74 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

progressive man, animated throughout by high principles, to whom the dis- 
tinguished office to which he has just been elected may be said to come as a 
well deserved honor." 

The Medical News, on the same occasion, said : "Dr. Billings is known 
as a man of careful, painstaking inquiry. Catholic in his spirit and in his 
sympathies, an interesting and genial teacher, and one who has built up a 
school of scientists in Chicago, who are an honor to the profession — such 
are some of the attributes of the new President." 

The Philadelphia Medical Journal said : "The election of Dr. Frank 
Billings of Chicago for President meets with general approval. Dr. Billings 
is a representative medical man of the great Central West. He is, moreover, 
a physician, and as the Association has honored surgeons now for several 
years with its highest office it was appropriate it should turn this year to a 
representative of the other field of practice." 

The New York Medical Journal said: "The Association is greatly to 
be congratulated upon its choice of a President for the ensuing year. We 
would by no means debar specialists from the presidency; indeed, many of 
them have filled the office gracefully and efficiently; but we can not avoid 
the thought that a representative of general medicine is as a rule the 
proper person to preside over an organization that embraces all branches of 
medicine. And surely there is no member of the American profession who 
would be more widely recognized as embodying what we expect to find in tbe 
general physician than Dr. Frank Billings of Chicago. When to his attain- 
ments as a practitioner, we add his personal dignity and serenity we have an 
ideal presiding officer of the American Medical Association. Hardly less re- 
quisite in the president of such an organization is catholicity of thought — 
freedom from that narrowness that keeps a man continually plodding in the 
strict field of professional practice. Such breadth of thought was clearly 
shown by Dr. Billings in the address on medicine which he delivered before 
the Saratoga meeting. * * * We repeat that the American Medical 
Association is to be congratulated on having chosen such a man for its 
president." 




^J" B. 




PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 



NATHAN SMITH DAVIS, A. M., M. D., Jr. 



i75 



This eminent practitioner, lecturer and author was born in Chicago 
September 5, 1858, and although yet young in years he has already forged to 
the front in the ranks of the distinguished physicians of the West. He is the 
youngest and only living son of N. S. Davis, Sr., who has been not inaptly 
described by Dr. Nicholas Senn as "the Nestor of Medicine in Chicago." 

To state this circumstance is to emphasize the fact that the younger 
Davis comes rightfully by those gifts of native genius which he has culti- 
vated to the utmost through experimental observation, keen analysis, hard 
study and close application. He received the degree of A. B. from North- 
western University in 1880; and even during his course of academic study 
he easily ranked as one of the most earnest and honored members of his class. 
Besides winning a prize for the best English essay, he achieved marked dis- 
tinction in the held of Natural History. To this pursuit he devoted most of 
his available leisure during term time and all of his vacations, and so pro- 
ficient did he become that during his Junior year he published, in connection 
with a fellow student, a descriptive catalogue of the Reptilia and Batrachia 
of Eastern North America. His health showing some symptoms of impair- 
ment, he visited South America, where he secured valuable collections of 
specimens of the Herpetology, Ornithology and Geology of that continent. 
That this pursuit of scientific investigation and research has proved of the 
utmost value. to him as a medical practitioner and professor is a fact almost 
too patent to call for mention. 

In 1883 he received the degree of A. M. from his academic Alma Mater, 
in course, and the same year was given a diploma as M. D., by the Chicago 
Medical College, now one of the branches of the Northwestern University. In 
his professional, as in his college course, he won high distinction, not only 
ranking first in his class but also being awarded a prize for the best thesis. 
Within a year he was appointed one of the visiting staff of Mercy Hospital, 
a position whose duties he has discharged ever since with a fidelity born of 
devotion and a skill attainable only through profound study and ripened ex- 
perience. At about the same time he was Assistant Professor of Pathology 
at the Chicago Medical College, an honor rarely conferred upon so young a 
man and so recent a graduate. He spent the spring and summer of 1885 in 
Europe (that being his second trip abroad), devoting his time chiefly to, the 
study of Pathology at Heidelberg and Vienna. Upon his return he found 
that the onus of instruction in Pathology devolved chiefly upon his shoulders. 
It was he who planned and inaugurated the first course of instruction in the 
laboratory for his college, and in 1887 the Adjunct-Professorship of the 
Principles and Practice of Medicine in the Chicago Medical College was tend- 



176 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

ered him. He accepted the Chair, and the following year was appointed to 
a full professorship, which he still fills, bringing to the discharge of its duties 
an ability, an unwearying devotion, and a capacity for self-sacrificing work, 
which are worthy of the admiration that they have elicited. Since then 
honors have come upon him thick and fast, but always unsought, his native 
modesty surpassing even his rare talent. His clinics at Mercy Hospital are 
of a sort, and are conducted with such technical knowledge and skill, as to 
attract both pupils and physicians. Indeed, for the successful discharge of 
the duties of the exacting profession to which he has consecrated his life, few 
men of his age and time are better equipped. As a practitioner he is a close 
observer, clear reasoner, quick of apprehension and resourceful. It is these 
qualities which have chiefly caused his services as a consulting physician to 
be so largely in demand. His office patients come from neighboring States, 
and his fellow members in the profession in Illinois constantly seek his ad- 
vice in difficult and dangerous cases. As a lecturer he always commands un- 
divided attention. Speaking with a voice well modulated and flexible, his 
explanations are clear, his language forceful, his conclusions convincing. As 
an author he has few if any superiors in lucidity of expression, perspicacity 
of statement, fertility of illustration, and ease and grace of diction. Some of 
his best known efforts as a writer are enumerated in a succeeding paragraph. 
His prominence in the profession is shown by the character of the 
numerous organizations to which he belongs, and the important positions 
which he has held and holds therein. In 1888 he was chosen secretary of 
the Section of Practical Medicine of the American Medical Association, and 
in 1892 was chosen, by that Section, a member of the Association's Executive 
Council. He was also chairman of the Section of Practical Medicine of the 
Illinois State Medical Society for 1893, and was a member of the council 
of the Section of Pathology of the Ninth International Medical Congress, 
as well as of the Section of Medicine of the Pan-American Medical Congress. 
In addition to these positions of honor and responsibility he is a member of 
•the Pharmacopeia Revision Committee (and vice-President of the Conven- 
tion for the Revision of the United States Pharmacopeia) : was 
Chairman of the Section of Medicine, Illinois State Medical So- 
ciety; formerly Vice-President of the Chicago Society of Internal 
Medicine, and President of the Chicago Medico-Legal Society: is 
a member of the Chicago Pathological and Neurological Societies; and is 
a Fellow of the American Academy of Medicine. Besides belonging to these 
professional organizations he is an esteemed member of the American Clima- 
tological Association, the American Therapeutic Association, the Chicago 
Academy of Sciences, the Illinois Microscopical Society and the Chicago 
Literary Club, as well as one of the board of managers of the Young i\£en's 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 177 

Christian Association of Chicago, and a trustee of Northwestern University. 
Dr. Davis is the author of a small volume on personal hygiene; "Con- 
sumption, How to Prevent It and How to Live with It;" of a standard work 
on "Disease of the Lungs, Heart and Kidneys;" and an exhaustive monograph 
upon "Dietetics," which constitutes one volume of the series entitled Physiolo- 
gic Therapeutics. He has also been associate author of other works of recog- 
nized authority, having prepared for the "International System of Electro- 
Therapeutics" the sections treating on the Lungs and Heart; for the "System 
of Practical Therapeutics," published by Lee Brothers & Company, that portion 
of the volume treating of the Therapeutics of Renal Diseases ; and to Wood's 
"Reference Handbook" numerous articles. For many years after the estab- 
lishment of the Journal of the American Medical Association he was a constant 
contributor to its editorial columns, and for several years edited the Depart- 
ment of Therapeutics of the well known journal Medicine. To current medical 
literature he has been a frequent and voluminous contributor, his articles 
usually being of high value because of their didactic character, their deep re- 
search and their analysis. Among them may be mentioned the following : 
"Methods of Resorption and Disposal of Foreign Bodies in the Living System," 
Journal of American Medical Association, October 7, 1883; "Arsenite of 
Bromine in Diabetes Mellitus," Id., May 8, 1886; "Antipyrin in Rheuma- 
tism, Its Value and Mode of Action," a paper read at the Chicago meeting 
of the American Medical Association, June 8, 1887, and published in the 
Society's Journal; "Chronic Meningitis with Partial Paralysis," Chicago 
Medical Journal and Examiner, July, 1887; "Cellular Digestion, its Utility 
in Pathological Processes," a paper read at the Washington meeting of the 
Ninth International Medical Congress on September 7, 1887, and published 
in the Transactions of that body; "A case of Rupture of an Aortic Valve," 
read at a meeting of the Chicago Medical Society, and published in the 
Journal of the American Medical Association in June, 1888; "The Mode of 
Action and Value of Antipyrin in Typhoid Fever," Medical Record of New 
York, January 19, 1889; "Physiological Action of Typhoid Fever Poison," 
read before the Chicago Medical Society, and published in the Medical Rec- 
ord, December 28, 1889; "The Treatment of Asthma," a clinical lecture, 
which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, May 
25, 1889; "The Necessity of Scientific Training for Students of Medicine," 
an introductory lecture delivered at the opening of Northwestern Univer- 
sity Medical School, in October, 1889, published in the North American 
Practitioner, July, 1890; "Remarks upon the Etiology of Typhoid Fever," 
read before the Chicago Medical Society in 1891 ; "Non-Valvular Heart 
Murmurs," read before the American Medical Association and published in 
the Journal July 30, 1892; "Voluntary Respiratory Exercises in the Treat- 
ment of Phthisis," read before the Chicago Medical Society, 1892; 



i;8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

"Uraemia/' a clinical lecture, Second Series, III (1892), of International 
Clinics; "Oxygen Inhalations, in Respiratory Affections," an essay read 
May 17, 1892, before the Illinois Medical Society and published in the 
Transactions of the Society; "Remarks on the Treatment of Diabetes Melli- 
tus," read at the Milwaukee meeting of the American Medical Association, 
and published in the Journal August 5, 1893; "Some Statistics of Diabetes 
Mellitus," read before the Illinois State Medical Society. January 15, 1894; 
"Animal Extracts," read before the Chicago Medical Society, and appearing 
in the Medical Recorder, December, 1894; "Pulmonary Hypertrophic 
Osteoarthropathy," read before the American Medical Association at Balti- 
more, May, 1895; "Cases of Valvular Disease of the Heart," a clinical lec- 
ture published in International Clinics, Vol. IV, Series IV, 1895 ; "Treat- 
ment of Consumption," read before the Illinois Medical Society at Ottawa, 
and published in Medicine, August, 1896: "How to Teach Medicine." Med- 
ical Fortnightly, September, 1896; "Trichomonas Vaginalis." read before 
the Chicago Medical Society, and published in the Medical Recorder, Octo- 
ber, 1896; "Prophylaxis of Tuberculosis," Medical Recorder, March. 1897; 
"Cheyne-Stokes Respiration Phenomena," read before the American Medi- 
cal Association at Philadelphia, and published in the Journal July, 1897; 
"Cardio- Vascular and Renal Relations and Manifestations of Gout." a paper 
read at the same meeting and published in the same journal : "Treatment of 
Chronic Enteritis," Medical Standard, J 897; "Chicago Sanitary Flour for 
Certain Dyspeptics and Diabetics." read before the Chicago Medical Society 
and published in 1898, in International Clinics; "Diabetic Gangrene." read 
before the American Medical Association in June, 1898, at Denver, 
and published in the Journal; "A New Bread for Diabetics." read 
at the same place and time and published in the same volume : '•Atheroma of 
Aorta with an Unusual Murmur at its Arch." Mercy Hospital Reports. 1898; 
"Prognosis in Chronic Valvular Affections of the Heart." read before the 
American Climatological Association, at Xew York. June. 1899. and pub- 
lished in the Medical News; "Some Phases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and 
Its Treatment," St. Joseph County Medical Society. Indiana. 1900. Bulletin 
Northwestern University Medical School; "Treatment of Pneumonia in In- 
fancy and Childhood," Chicago Medical Society. Medical Recorder. 1900; 
"Dietetic Treatment of Diabetes." 1900, Section of Therapeutics. American 
Medical Association, Journal of the Association: "A Case of Ulcerative 
Endocarditis with Recovery." 1900, Section of Medicine, American Medical 
Association, Journal of Association : Address on "Antivivisection Legisla- 
tion" before Chicago Literary Club. 180S: "Prognosis in Chronic Valvular 
Diseases of the Heart," 1890. American Climatological Society. Medical 
News; "Animal Extracts" (about 1896-97). Chicago Medical Society. Med- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 179 

ical Recorder; "The Diagnosis and Treatment of Round Ulcer of the Stom- 
ach," Address before Nebraska State Medical Society, May, 1901, published 
in American Medicine, November 9, 1901 ; Oration on Medicine, American 
Medical Association, June 8, 1901 ; "Internal Medicine in the Nineteenth 
Century;" "Treatment of Pneumonia," read before Illinois State Medical So- 
ciety, May, 1902, published in the Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
tion; "Treatment of Typhoid Fever," read at meeting of Central Wisconsin 
Medical Society, October 28, 1902; "Exercise as a Mode of Treatment for 
Heart Diseases," read at the New Orleans Meeting, 1903, of the American 
Medical Association. 

Reference to Dr. Davis's celebrated father, Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., has 
been already made. His grandfather was Dow Davis, a pioneer farmer of 
Chenango county, New York, and his mother was Anna Maria Parker, of 
Vienna, in that State. He himself was married in 1884 to Miss Jessie 
Hopkins, a daughter of the late Judge Hopkins, of Madison, Wisconsin. 

Dr. Davis's standing among his professional brethren is aptly shown 
by the following from the pen of Dr. Daniel R. Brower: "N. S. Davis, Jr., 
is a 'chip off the old block,' a worthy son of a noble sire — no one more fully 
exemplifies the great law of heredity. A great student, a successful teacher, 
an earnest worker for the elevation of professional attainments generally. Is 
it any wonder that he has an international reputation and a large clientage?" 

Dr. John Ridlon writes : "N. S. Davis, Jr. A courteous gentleman, a 
learned physician, a generous friend, a man whom men love." 



JOHN RIDLON, A. M., M. D. 

This eminent surgeon, whom the profession and laity of Chicago delight 
to honor, and who, in the words of Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., "is an eminent 
practitioner and teacher of orthopedic surgery, and a most valued contributor 
to the literature of that department," had his birthplace among the moun- 
tains of Vermont, whose peaks look down upon the broad waters of Lake 
Champlain. In their bosom he was nurtured, and as, from their verdant 
summits, he beheld the coronal of evanescent glory lingering on the western 
hills at sunset, who can tell what aspirations of hopes may not have — half 
unconsciously to himself — filled his youthful mind. Dr. Ridlon was born 
in Clarendon, Rutland county, in the Green Mountain State, on November 
24, 1852. His father, Noel Potter Ridlon, was a farmer, and his mother's 
maiden name was Nancy Bromley Hulett. His educational advantages in 
boyhood were the best afforded by the locality in which he was reared. A 



180 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

course in the public schools was supplemented by attendance at Lansley's 
Commercial College, at Poultney, and at Barre Academy. He left the insti- 
tution last named in 1869, three years after the death of his father, and at 
once began life's battle on his own account, as a salesman in the general 
store of J. S. Warren, of Granville, New York. The work did not prove to 
his liking, and after a year so spent he abandoned it, to become a "level-rod 
man" in a corps of civil engineers engaged in surveying the route of the 
Chicago, Danville and Vincennes railroad. From October, 1870, to June, 
1872, he was a student at Goddard Seminary, at Barre, Vermont, and for 
two years thereafter at Tufts College. Like many other young men whose 
innate spirits can illy brook control he disagreed with the Faculty on ques- 
tions of discipline, and was expelled during his Sophomore year. In June, 
1899, the institution, perhaps wishing to atone for its previous action, con- 
ferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. His expulsion from 
Tufts, however, did not prevent his matriculating at the Chicago Univer- 
sity in 1874, nor his graduation therefrom in 1875, with the degree of A. B. 
The degree of M. A. was also conferred upon him. in course, in 1878. and 
the A. B. degree was affirmed by the new Chicago University in July, 1896. 

Dr. Ridlon began his medical studies at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons in New York, in September, 1875, receiving his degree of M. D. in 
March, 1878. His appointment as Interne for medical and surgical service 
at St. Luke's Hospital followed in July. Such an intellect as his. however, 
was not to be concealed, like "a light under a bushel." Selecting Orthopedic 
Surgery as a specialty he soon attained eminence and in April. 188 1. was 
made Assistant Orthopedic Surgeon of the hospital in which his professional 
career had begun, and attending Orthopedic Surgeon in 1888. which 
post he filled for one year. Meanwhile other professional honors 
had been thrust upon him. unsolicited. From June. 1881, to October, 
1888, he was Assistant Surgeon to the New York Orthopedic Dispensary 
and Hospital. From October. 1882. to April. 1887. he was Lecturer on 
Orthopedic Surgery in the Medical Department of the University of the 
City of New York, and for two years (1887-89) attending Orthopedic Sur- 
geon to the First Department for the Relief of the Out-Door Poor, at Bellevue 
Hospital. His reputation as a patient and tireless investigator, joined to his 
well-earned fame as a specialist, placed him in charge of the Orthopedic ser- 
vice of the Vanderbilt Clinic of the College of Physicians and Surgeons for 
the period between January. 1889. and May. 1892. his immediate charge being 
the examination, care and treatment of orthopedic patients. 

In the last mentioned year he came West, locating at Chicago, which 
city has since been his home. His fame had preceded him. and he was at 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 181 

once tendered the position of Lecturer on Orthopedic Surgery at the Chicago 
Medical College, now a department of the Northwestern University, the 
grave and difficult duties of which post he continued to discharge with rare 
ability and unwearying fidelity until 1893, in which year he was called to 
the Chair of Orthopedic Surgery in the college, which he accepted, bringing 
thereto ripe scholarship, long experience and a tireless persistency in investi- 
gation. Of his career in the West, comparatively brief as it has been, the 
great Dr. Fenger has said that "although in Chicago for less than ten years 
he has rapidly become an acknowledged authority on orthopedic surgery. 
He is the apostle of the modern or non-operative treatment of deformities, 
and has attained a high degree of success in this particular field." From 
October, 1892, to December, 1893, he filled the same Chair (Orthopedic 
Surgery) in the Post Graduate Medical School. In 1898 he was called to the 
same professorship in the Woman's Medical College, one of the departments 
of the Northwestern University. For ten years he was Senior Attending 
Orthopedic Surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital, and has been medical director 
and surgeon in charge of the Home for Destitute Crippled Children since its 
establishment. The Board of the Michael Reese Hospital, recognizing his 
broad knowledge and his pronounced skill as a specialist, appointed him 
Attending Orthopedic Surgeon in 1895, and the following year he was named 
a consultant at the Mary Thompson Hospital for W^omen and Children. 
However, he has resigned the latter incumbency. He is now in charge of 
the Orthopedic service at Mercy Hospital, the Wesley Hospital and the 
Evanston Hospital. In writing of the career of Dr. Ridlon, Dr. W. F. Waugh 
says : "On coming to Chicago he at once took high rank in his specialty, and 
was recognized as a decided acquisition to the city. He enjoys the rare dis- 
tinction of having won friends without making enemies and of winning 
respect without arousing envy." 

Dr. Ridlon has also been recently elected a member of the Congrega- 
tion of the University of Chicago. A partial index of the esteem in which he 
is held by his professional brethren is afforded by the following kindly words 
of Dr. Frank Billings : "Who does not know, esteem and admire Dr. John 
Ridlon? Immensely big and wholesome, full of energy, his mind larger than 
his physical bulk, he is a veritable master in his special field of practice. 
Cordial and straightforward in his dealings, both socially and professionally, 
he is respected, admired and loved by patients, acquaintances and friends.". 

The Doctor has been prominently identified with many of the leading- 
medical societies of the country, and has been at once a prolific and per- 
spicacious author, his works being recognized as authoritative in the fields 
of which they treat. While in New York he was chosen to membership in 



i82 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

the County Medical Society, the Pathological Society, the Academy of Med- 
icine and the Hospital Graduates' Club, being secretary of the organization 
last named. Since coming to Chicago, one society has vied with another in the 
attempt to secure his honored name upon its roll of membership. 
He is prominently connected with the Chicago Medical Society, 
the Practitioners' Club, the Medico-Legal Society, and the Chicago Ortho- 
pedic Society, of which latter body he was the first President. He also be- 
longs to the Illinois State Medical Society, has been elected an honorary 
member of a like organization in Colorado, and is an honorary member of the 
Winnebago County (Illinois) Medical Society. Of the American Orthopedic 
Association he is a charter member, serving as its Secretary from 1891 to 
1894, its President in 1894-95, and again holding the Secretaryship from 
1895 to the present time. He is a corresponding member of the British 
Orthopedic Society. He is also a member of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, and has taken a prominent part in the deliberations of the Con- 
gress of American Physicians and Surgeons. 

As a writer, Dr. Ridlon is at once profound, clear and trenchant : and 
his rare ability has been recognized by journals in both hemispheres. From 
1888 to 1892 he was editor of the orthopedic department of the Analectic 
of New York. From 1891 to 1897 he was one of the editors of the ortho- 
pedic department of the Medical Annua! of Bristol, England, and is an asso- 
ciate editor of the Annates d'Orthopedie, of Paris. He is also the writer of all 
the articles relating to Orthopedy in the supplementary volume of Wood's 
"Reference Hand-book of the Medical Sciences." Since 1890 he has pre- 
pared some forty papers for various medical journals, all which have attracted 
w r ide notice because of their profound research and perspicacity of style, and 
has been joint author with Robert Jones, F. R. C. S.. of Liverpool. England, 
of a volume of lectures on Orthopedic Surgery. A partial list of his publica- 
tions is given in a succeeding paragraph. 

Dr. Ridlon was married, on June 4. 1879. to Miss Emily Caroline 
Robinson, of Newport. Rhode Island, the ceremony being solemnized at 
Trinity Church, in that city. She is the daughter of the late John Rudd 
Robinson and Mrs. Margaret J. Kearney-Robinson, of Newport. Nine chil- 
dren have been born of their union. 

Dr. Ridlon is author of the following valuable contributions to medical 
literature : "A Splint for the Treatment of Deformity at the Knee Joint Due 
to the Rerlex Muscular Spasm of Chronic Osteitis." Medical Record January 
5. 1884. "Continuous Traction in the Treatment of Pott's Disease." Med- 
ical Record. February 7. 1885. "Notes on Two Cases of Pott*s Disease. 
Illustrating the Difficulty of Diagnosticating hetween Upper Dorsal and 
Lower Cervical Caries in Very Young Children," Medical Record, August 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 183 

20, 1887. "Remarks on Exercise Without Fatigue in the Treatment of 
Pulmonary Tuberculosis," Medical Record, July 7, 1888. "Rest in the Treat- 
ment of Chronic Joint Disease," Medical Record, September 15, 1888. "On 
the Treatment of Rotary Lateral Curvature of the Spine," Brooklyn Medical 
Journal, October, 1888. "Double Hip Disease, a Report of Fourteen Con- 
secutive Cases, with Conclusions," Transactions of the American Ortho- 
pedic Association, Vol. 1, 1889. "Early Diagnosis of Lateral Curvature of 
the Spine," Medical and Surgical Reporter, May 25, 1889. "Notes 
on Two Cases of Hip Disease in which Traction Caused Severe 
Pain," Medical Chips, August, 1889. "Some Practical Points in 
the Mechanical Treatment of Hip Disease, with Special Reference 
to the Use of Thomas's Splint," Virginia Medical Monthly, October, 1889. 
"Report of a Case of Congenital Dislocation of the Hip," Medical Record, 
November 16, 1889. "Fixation and Traction in the Treatment of Hip Dis- 
ease," Nezv York Medical Journal, February 15, 1890. "The Thomas Hip 
Splint," Nezv York Medical Journal, April 5, 1890. "Report of a Case of 
Congenital Deformity," Archives of Pediatrics, June, 1890. "Report of a 
Case of Deformity of the Shoulder," Medical Record, September 13, 1890. 
"A Report of Sixty-two Cases of Hip Disease," New York Medical Journal, 
October 4, 1890. "The Non-operative Treatment of Delayed Union in 
Fractures of the Leg," Medical Record, January 31, 1891. "Supra-cotyloid 
Dislocation," Nezv York Medical Journal, May 23, 1891. "Syphilitic Spon- 
dylitis in Children," Medical Nczvs, October, 17, 1891. "Fractures of the 
Neck of the Femur ; with a Report of Twelve Cases Treated by the Thomas 
Hip Splint," Chicago Medical Recorder, August 15, 1892. "Rotary Lateral 
Deformity of the Spine in Pott's Disease," Medical Record, September 17, 
1892. "Principles of Treatment of Chronic Joint Disease, with some Re- 
marks on Pathology," North American Practitioner, October, 1892. 
"Spondylitis," Journal of the American Medical Association, December 10, 
1892. "The Treatment of Spondylitis," a series of four articles, North 
American Practitioner, December, 1892, to February, 1893. "Operative 
Measures in the Treatment of Spondylitis," Medical Index, February, 1893. 
"Disease in the Sacro-iliac Articulation," Annals of Surgery, March, 1893. 
"The Diagnosis and Prognosis of Spondylitis," Transactions, Colorado 
State Medical Society, 1896. "Some Unusual Congenital Deformities." 
Transactions, American Orthopedic Association, 1896. "Adolescent Rickets; 
the Report of a Case," American Journal of Surgery and Gynecology, 1896. 
"Diagnosis and Principles of Treatment of Hip Joint Disease," Transactions, 
Colorado State Medical Society, 1895. "Flat-foot," Chicago Medical Re- 
corder, August, 1896. "Symptoms and Treatment of Hip Disease," Transac- 
tions, Iowa State Medical Society, 1898. "Forcible Straightening of Spinal 



i84 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Curvatures during Complete Anesthesia," Journal of the American Medical 
Association, March 26, 1898. "Forcible Straightening of Spinal Curva- 
ture," Transactions, American Orthopedic Association, 1898. "Forcible 
Straightening of Spinal Curvatures," American Gynecological and Obstetri- 
cal Journal, December, 1898. "Mechanical Treatment of Hip Joint Disease," 
Chicago Medical Recorder, June, 1899. 



JOHN E. OWENS, M. D. 

Of this eminent physician and surgeon, Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., writes: 
"John Edwin Owens was born in Cecil county, Maryland, October 15, 1836, 
received a good general Academic education, and graduated in medicine from 
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1852. After serving a short time 
as Resident Physician at Blockley Hospital, he came to Chicago in 1863. The 
St. Luke's Hospital had only just completed its organization at that time, 
and Dr. Owens was placed at the head of the Surgical Staff and elected a 
member of its Board of Directors, both of which positions he still holds. 
From 1867 to 1871 he was Lecturer on Surgical Diseases of the Urinary 
Organs, in Rush Medical College. From 1871 to 1882 he lectured on the 
Principles and Practice of Surgery in the same College. In 1882 he ac- 
cepted the Chair of Surgical Anatomy and Operations of Surgery in the 
Chicago Medical College — Medical Department of Northwestern Univer- 
sity — which he held until 1891, when he was transferred to the Chair of 
Principles and Practice of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery, which position 
he still holds. He served as Medical Director of the World's Columbian Ex- 
position of 1893. For several years he has been a prominent member of the 
National Organization of Railway Surgeons, being Chief Surgeon for two 
important railroad companies. It will be thus seen that Dr. Owens has been 
for more than thirty years prominently connected with the Medical Schools 
and Hospitals of this city, and has maintained throughout an excellent repu- 
tation as a skilled Surgeon, a thoroughly practical teacher, both clinical and 
didactic, and as an honorable man in every relation of life. He has made but 
few contributions to medical literature, but has retained an active membership 
in the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the 
Chicago Medical Society and the Chicago Medico-Legal Society." He is also 
a member of the American Surgical Association and the Chicago Surgical 
Society. 

Dr. John Ridlon writes : "Dr. John E. Owens has held a leading- place 
in surgery in Chicago for more than a quarter of a century. He is Senior 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 185 

Surgeon to St. Luke's Hospital, President of its Medical Board, and a mem- 
ber of the Board of Trustees. He has been Professor of Surgery in North- 
western University Medical School for many years, and before that was 
Professor of Orthopedic Surgery in Rush Medical College. He is the Chief 
Surgeon of the Illinois Central and of the Northwestern railways, and was 
Medical Director of the Columbian Exposition in 1893. 

"A glance at the above honorable positions gives the key to the make-up 
(ensemble) of the man. He is a thoroughly equipped surgeon, a man of 
great good sense and of broad comprehension of affairs, a man who readily 
gains and holds the confidence and esteem of the leaders of men." 



JOHN EVANS, M. D. 

John Evans, M. D., a founder of Evanston and the Northwestern Uni- 
versity, and one of the foremost citizens of Denver from 1862, when he 
was appointed Governor of the Territory of Colorado, by President Lincoln, 
died at Denver, Colorado, July 3, 1897, aged eighty-three years. 

Illinois and Colorado may well have a local pride in the works of John 
Evans, because of the double role he filled, so well, in both States, as pioneer 
settler, and generous public-spirited citizen. He was one of the founders 
of Chicago's suburb of Evanston, and after him the "village" north of 
Chicago was named. He was connected most prominently with Chicago's 
early growth, with the building of its tributary railroad system, and with 
the founding of some of its chief hospitals and institutions of learning. He 
was once Governor of Colorado, having been appointed to that office by 
President Abraham Lincoln, when Colorado was a Territory. He was the 
founder of the University of Denver, patterned after the Northwestern Uni- 
versity of Evanston, and constructed Denver's electric railway system. The 
first Methodist Church in Denver was also built by him. 

Dr. Evans was born in Waynesville, Indiana, March 9, 1814, studied 
medicine, and graduated from the Medical Department of Cincinnati College 
in 1838. In Attica, Indiana, he first set up his sign as M. D., and secured 
a comfortable practice, becoming in time Superintendent of the Insane Asy- 
lum. Dr. Evans came to Chicago in 1848, to lecture in Rush Medical Col- 
lege. Though of Quaker, ancestry, he was not of a religious nature, but of a 
speculative turn of mind, in early life. His conversion at this time marked 
a turning-point in his career, and it happened in this way. He was attracted 
to hear Bishop Matthew Simpson lecture on "Education." He took a re- 
markable liking to the lecturer, and went to hear him preach the next day. 



1 86 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

The earnestness of the sermon caused his ears to ring with the name of 
God, as he afterward declared, and he at once joined the Methodist Church. 
At the solicitation of Bishop Simpson, he decided to make Chicago his home. 
He was appointed Professor of Obstetrics in Rush Medical College, and was 
actively engaged in medical practice for a few years. He ceased the practice 
of medicine, however, and invested in real estate, making his office head- 
quarters in the Evans block, built by himself and Dr. Daniel Brainard, Dr. 
Evans becoming in time proprietor of the whole building, by the purchase 
soon afterward of Dr. Brainard's interest. This building was located on the 
east side of Clark street, just south of the alley, between Randolph and Lake 
streets, and opposite the "Sherman House." Included in the block were the 
Chicago post office, which in a limited space did a limited business, and the 
editorial rooms of the Chicago Tribune. 

It was through its great university, the Northwestern, that Dr. Evans 
became identified in name with the University's site, at Evanston. In iS j.8, 
with his friend, Bishop Simpson, he went to that place, where they found 
only a few cottages and thatched houses. Dr. Evans insisted that the vil- 
lage should bear the divine's name, and the latter insisted that it should bear 
the name of Evanston. The daughter of Orington Lunt, the father of 
Evanston, was asked to arbitrate the question, and she named the town 
Evanston. Dr. Evans was made President of this institution at Evanston, 
and endowed it richly from time to time. 

It was through his efforts the first high school in Chicago was built. 
He was a member of the City Council, and bent all his energies toward 
giving Chicago a complete educational system. It was while in the Council 
he prepared and introduced the ordinance providing for a City Superinten- 
dent of Schools. He also secured the passage in the Legislature of the bill 
perpetually ensuring the property of the university at Evanston from taxa- 
tion. In railroads Dr. Evans also became interested, and in this and in real 
estate laid the nucleus of his great fortune. He built the Fort Wayne & 
Chicago railroad, and it was his shrewd foresight which gave the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad its splendid terminal facilities in Chicago. 

Dr. Evans was also, while in Chicago, a prominent contributor to 
scientific journalism, and was at one time editor of the Northwestern Medi- 
cal and Surgical Journal, and was also one of the founders of the Methodist 
Book Concern and the Northiuestern Christian Advocate. He was a delegate 
to the convention which nominated Lincoln, and was one of his most en- 
thusiastic supporters in the great wigwam convention. He was offered the 
Territorial Governorship of \Yashington. but declined, in 1867. however, 
accepting the Territorial Governorship of Colorado. In that State he remain- 
ed and devoted himself to railway and educational work. The first railroad 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 187 

in Colorado was promoted by him, connecting Denver with the Union Pacific 
at Cheyenne. He was recognized as one of the foremost citizens of Colo- 
rado, and was elected United States Senator, but his election was rendered 
void by President Johnson's veto of the bill making the Territory a State. 
Within the last eight years of his life he constructed one of the most perfect 
systems of electric railways in the country, in Denver, his last great work. 



WELLER VAN HOOK, M. D. 

A long line of honorable ancestry is a priceless heritage entailing grave 
responsibilities — responsibilities, however, that are the more easily borne be- 
cause of the sturdy characteristics handed down from generation to genera- 
tion. On the Hoeck, in Holland, dwelt the family of Van Hook, or, as the 
name was originally spelled, Van Hoeck. Of this family two brothers came 
to America in the early days, one settling in Albany, New York, and the 
other in Maryland, the latter' s descendants moving to Kentucky. From those 
who made their home near Marysville and Cynthiana, Kentucky, is descended 
that noted physician and surgeon of Chicago, Weller Van Hook, than whom 
no man in the medical profession in the West is better, known. Through 
intermarriages with descendants of different nationalities, the Van Hooks 
of the present generation can boast of English, Scottish, Irish, French and 
German lineage, as well as the original Dutch. The family was represented 
in the French and Indian war, the Revolution (one being a captain), the 
war of 1812, and on both sides in the Civil war. 

Dr. Weller Van Hook was born near Louisville, Kentucky, May 14, 
1862, a son of William R. and Matilda (Weller) Van Hook. William R. 
Van Hook was educated in Louisville, Kentucky, in medicine, taking his 
degree in 1859, at the University of Louisville. He was an Assistant-Sur- 
geon in the Union army during the Civil war, after which he practiced medi- 
cine at Buffalo, about twenty-five miles east of Springfield, in Sangamon 
county, Illinois, where he made his home until 1872, when he removed to Illio- 
polis, Illinois, where he made his home until 1883. He then gave up active 
practice and resided, respectively, in Chicago, Spring-field, and El Paso, 
Illinois. He died in September, 1898, and his wife died in 1890. 

Weller Van Hook passed the early part of his life in central Illinois. 
At the age of sixteen he went to Louisville, where he attended the Male High 
School for three years, beginning the four years' course as a Freshman, but 
concluding the term of work in one year less than the usual time, and gradu- 
ating with honors in 1881. Leaving Louisville he went to Ann Arbor, 



1 88 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Michigan, where he attended the University, entering as a Sophomore in the 
course leading to the degree of A. B. While completing this course, he was 
able, on account of the fact that he had entered with more work to his credit 
than necessary according to the rules of the institution, to take a year's 
work in medicine; consequently upon receiving his baccalaureate degree, he 
was able to finish at the College of Physicians and Surgeons with the degree 
of M. D., in 1885. 

Having passed the competitive examination for Cook County Hospital, 
Dr. Van Hook entered upon his duties as Interne there in the fall of 1885, 
and served until the spring of 1887. Several years of practice were spent 
on the West Side of the city of Chicago, during which Dr. Van Hook taught 
in the Dispensary of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and later held 
the Chair of Surgical Pathology and Bacteriology in association with Dr. 
Bayard Holmes. This work involved the delivery of two lectures per, week on 
Surgical Pathology, and a simultaneous laboratory course. Toward the latter 
portion of this period he was also Professor of Surgery in the Post Graduate 
Medical School of Chicago, where two clinics per week were held. In 
August, 1894, he went abroad for the purpose of continuing his medical 
studies. His time was divided between the larger medical centers of the 
Continent and London. During this period but little attention was paid to 
the immediate subject of Surgery, in spite of the fact that this was the ulti- 
mate object of the work, it being the belief of the Doctor that the best 
preparation for Surgery, aside from the technique of the subject, was to be 
found in the study of Pathology, Anatomy and other topics closely associated 
with Surgical Diagnosis. 

Returning in the spring of 1895 after an absence of more than eight 
months, work was begun in the Chicago Policlinic, in which the Doctor still 
holds a Chair of Surgery. In the fall of 1895 he entered the Surgical De- 
partment of the Northwestern University Medical School, where he is now 
Professor, of Principles and Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery. In 
the fall of 1896 he was appointed to a Surgeoncy in the German Hospital, 
and in the fall of 1897 to a similar position in Wesley Hospital. In former 
years he served as Surgeon to Cook County Hospital, and is now perform- 
ing his duties regularly in that institution, where he holds clinics with 
especial reference to the requirements of the Woman's Medical School, in 
which he is also Professor of Surgery. At present the Doctor is holding one 
clinic each week at Cook County Hospital, and one clinic at the Northwestern 
University Medical School, besides lecturing twice a week on General Sur- 
gery in the latter institution. 

Dr. Van Hook has been active in medical literature, having prepared a' 
number of papers, the titles of a few of which follow : '"'Tuberculosis of the 





^/ / yaA*s/&&~- /y >^ asisC^^ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 189 

Sacro-iliac Joint;" "The Surgery of the Ureter," Journal of the American 
Medical Association, June, 1893; and "Air Distention in Operations upon 
the Biliary Passages," Annals of Surgery. 

Of him and his work, Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., has written: "Dr. Weller 
Van Hook of Chicago, after a good general education, studied medicine and 
graduated from the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1885, 
entered directly into practice in this city, and soon showed a predilection for. 
Surgery. With industry, integrity, and excellent natural endowments he 
has advanced rapidly to an enviable position both as teacher and practitioner, 
especially in the development of surgery. He is now Professor of Surgery in 
Northwestern University Medical School, and in the Chicago Policlinic ; At- 
tending Surgeon to Cook County and Wesleyan Hospitals; an active member 
of the regular local, State and national Medical Societies, and a valuable con- 
tributor to Medical literature." 

In 1892 Doctor Van Hook was united in marriage with Anna Charles 
Whaley, who is descended from the Whaleys, or Whalleys, of Maryland. 
The family was founded in this country by the famous regicide Judge 
Whalley, who fled from England and settled in Rhode Island. 



FRANKLIN H. MARTIN, M. D. 

Franklin H. Martin, M. D., who ranks as a leading American specialist 
in Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery, comes of stalwart stock in both the 
paternal and maternal lines. His father's family were among the early set- 
tlers of Vermont, where their original seat was near the Canadian frontier. A 
branch thereof, however, removed to New York, where Edmond Martin, 
the father of Dr. Martin, was born. He accompanied his parents to Wiscon- 
sin, where he grew to maturity and married Miss Josephine Carlin. He 
served with gallantry and distinction in the Nineteenth Wisconsin Regiment 
during the Civil war, and lost his life in the service. His wife's father, 
Alexander W. Carlin, was descended from a family who emigrated from the 
North of Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania. There she was born, but before 
she had passed her girlhood, her parents, too, found a home in the "Badger 
State." Alexander W. Carlin enjoyed the distinction of having taken the 
first team of horses into Southern Wisconsin. 

Franklin H. Martin was born on a farm near Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, 
July 13, 1857. When he was a boy of ten years, the family removed to 
Milwaukee, but remained in that city only a year, returning to Oconomowoc. 
where young Franklin lived until his sixteenth year. Being a strong, self- 



190 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



reliant youth, and his father determining that he should learn a trade, he was 
apprenticed to a millwright in Minneapolis. The natural proclivities of the 
youth, however, were in another direction. After spending a year in Minn- 
eapolis he returned home, and attended school until 1877, in which year he 
entered the office of Dr. W. C. Spaulding, of Watertown, Wisconsin, as a 
student of medicine. Native aptitude for getting along, and a strong natural 
bias for his chosen profession, caused him to make rapid progress. In due 
time he matriculated at the Chicago Medical College — now the Northwestern 
University Medical School — receiving his degree in 1880. Immediately 
after graduation he was a successful contestant in a competitive examination, 
for the post of House Physician and Assistant Surgeon at Mercy Hospital. 
Upon sundering his connection with that institution, he launched forth in 
general practice, but before many years had passed it was evident that genius 
and inclination had destined him to become a specialist. His success as a 
practitioner was pronounced from the outset. He was among the first to in- 
vestigate the value of electricity as a therapeutic and surgical agent, and was 
one of the first thinkers and instructors in America to introduce the technical 
study of Apostolus method for the use of strong electrolytic, or chemical 
galvano-caustic, currents in the treatment of the diseases of the female gen- 
erative organs, and especially of uterine fibroids. On this general subject he 
has written extensively and with rare force, logic and perspicacity. In 1892 
he published a work along these lines which at once brought him fame as an 
author, its title being "Electricity in Diseases of Women and in Obstetrics." 
A second edition was issued from the press the following year. Since then he 
has been the author of several brochures, some of which are mentioned in a 
succeeding paragraph, but the manifold, multiple and exacting demands upon 
his time leave him but little leisure to contribute the results of his scientific, 
painstaking researches to the benefit of the profession. As an investigator, 
he is tireless, scrupulous and accurate; as a teacher simple, in his demonstra- 
tions ; while as an author, his style is remarkably clear and direct. About the 
time of publishing his first work (1892) Dr. Martin announced his intention 
of confining himself, thenceforward, to his own chosen specialties, Gynecology 
and Abdominal Surgery, and from the carrying out of this resolve he has 
never swerved. 

His research and skill have won him many honors. He is an esteemed 
and valued member of the Chicago Medical and Chicago Gynecological So- 
cieties, as well as of the American Medical Association. Of the Gynecologi- 
cal Society he was president in 1895, an d in the same year was Chairman of 
the Gynecological Section of the American Medical Association. 

The Medical Colleges of Chicago have not been slow in recognizing his 
worth, alike as a student, as a specialist and as a teacher. His first pro- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 191 

fessorship of Gynecology was in the Policlinic. In 1888 he was one of the 
charter incorporators of the Post Graduate Medical School, of which he 
has been secretary since its organization, while at 'the same time he ably fills 
the Chair of Gynecology and Clinical Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery. 
Here he conducts weekly (and sometimes tri-weekly) clinics, as occasion 
offers or necessity demands. Many of his subjects come from the adjacent 
Charity Hospital, in connection with which he is Gynecologist and Chief of 
the Medical Staff. He occupies a similar position on the Staff of the 
Woman's Hospital, in which institution he performs many of his operations 
in private practice. Of the latter many are performed in other hospitals. 

Dr. Martin has not only devised new operations in his own special line 
of practice and surgery, but also new applications of, and changes in, those 
suggested and introduced by others. On November 15, 1892, he originated 
and successfully performed the operation known as "vaginal ligation of the 
broad ligament," for the cure of uterine fibroid. An article from his pen, 
giving a description of the conduct and success of the operation, appeared in 
the American Journal of Obstetrics, April, 1893. Six other cases, treated in 
the same way, were described in the issue of the same journal which appeared 
in the following January. Both articles — succinct in statement, lucid in ex- 
planation and convincing in argument — attracted wide notice and exerted a 
potent influence. Surgeons had before that time performed many operations 
which merely ligated the uterine artery, but the underlying principle of those 
operations, no less than the manner of their execution, differed materially 
from that originated by Dr. Martin. His method cut off at once the nourish- 
ment normally furnished by both blood and nerves, the immediate result being- 
cessation of hemorrhage. This was followed by atrophy of the fibroid, be- 
cause of its lack of nourishment through the arteries feeding the uterus, the 
source of whose nutrition was thus radically changed. 

Another innovation upon, or rather modification of, previous methods 
suggested -by Dr. Martin has attracted no little attention among gyne- 
cologists, because of his having successfully brought it into practice. The 
operation in question is that known as ventro-suspension. As now performed 
by Dr. Martin, a strip of the peritoneum is brought into use as a living liga- 
ment. A paper describing the operation thus successfully performed was 
read by him before the Chicago Gynecological Society on November 19, 1897, 
and published in the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal, Febru- 
ary, 1898. In this paper Dr. Martin points out that the employment of a 
living ligament is superior to the use of any sort of suture, and that it admits 
of far greater ease and range of motion. It was he also who devised the 
modification of the Alexander operation, by which one of the round ligaments 



i 9 2 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

is drawn, subcutaneously, through to the other side and tied to its fellow in 
the median line. A full and clear description of this modification, in which 
its superiority to the former method in use is distinctly and conclusively 
shown, may be found on page 468, Vol. VII, American Gynecological and 
Obstetrical Jowrnal, April, 1896. 

Among the large number of very grave cases, calling for the exercise 
of the highest skill in abdominal surgery, with which Dr. Martin has been 
called to deal, one of the most interesting, as well as most important in its 
far reaching results, was a distressing case of cancer, upon which he was 
called to operate in the summer, of 1897. It presented squamous-celled 
epithelioma of the cervix uteri. The operation of vaginal hysterectomy was 
necessary, and during its performance it was discovered that there had been 
early involvement of the walls of the bladder. Shortly after the operation a 
vesico-vaginal fistula developed. Its invasion was rapid, and the death of the 
patient soon followed. This set the surgeon to thinking. Conceiving the 
idea that if the bladder and all other tissues already involved in the carcino- 
matous destruction could have been safely cut away at the time of the opera- 
tion, the disease might have been arrested and the patient's life saved, he began 
a series of experiments with a view to devising an operation for the success- 
ful implantation of the ureters in the bowels, so that the bladder itself might 
be removed also, when involved in the cancerous process. The subjects which 
he selected for his experimental researches were, for the greater part, large 
dogs, and their result has been published. His first report was made to the 
Chicago Gynecological Society January 18, 1899, and was published in the 
Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal the following March under the cap- 
tion "Experimental Implantataion of the Ureters in the Bowels." The report 
covered the cases of three dogs, and was supplemented by one from Dr. 
Robert Zeit, the pathologist. Dog No. 1 was operated upon on January 7, 
1898, and died on May 14, following. The second operation mentioned was 
performed December 17, 1897, the subject living for one year. Third opera- 
tion was performed November 25, 1897, and the dog survived until December 
19, 1898. These were the three most successful operations, thirty-one others 
being mentioned in the reports in which the animals died within a few hours 
or days. The results were on the whole somewhat disappointing, but it oc- 
curred to Dr. Martin that there had been no attempt made to form a valve 
at the site of the implantation, to which circumstances might possibly be at- 
tributed the unmistakable symptoms of infection of the kidneys due to the 
ascent of infection through the ureters, and on January 28, 1899. there ap- 
peared in the Journal of the American Medical Association an article by Dr. 
Martin, in which he described a new operation having for its object "the mak- 
ing of subsequent infection of the ureters and kidneys impossible after double 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 193 

implantation of the ureters in the rectum." In March following, he read be- 
fore the Chicago Gynecological Society a paper, published in June, 1899, in the 
American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal, entitled "Further Report 
on the Implantation of the Ureters in the Rectum, with Exhibitions of Speci- 
mens." This report described nine operations upon animals, two of whom 
survived. One of these two cases was a most interesting one. The subject 
of the experiment was a dog, and the operation was performed December 22, 
1898. Owing to the unfortunate circumstances that the animal contracted 
an infectious disease, he was killed on March 11, 1899. An autopsy, however, 
revealed the fact that the left kidney was practically normal, as also appeared 
to be the pelvis of the right kidney. The accompanying report of the patho- 
logist contained the pithy statement, "it would seem that what operative skill 
can achieve has been realized here." On April 5, 1900, by invitation of the 
Philadelphia Gynecological Society, Professor Martin read before that body 
a paper having for its title "Removal of the Bladder as a Preliminary to and 
Co-incidental with Hysterectomy for Cancer, in order to extend the Possi- 
bilities of Surgery for Malignant Diseases of the Pelvis." In this contribu- 
tion to medical knowledge the Doctor referred to his previous articles, and to 
some extent recapitulated his experiments. He compiled a list of seventy- 
four cases of implantation of the ureters, in various ways, four of which were 
his own. He fully described the technique of his operation, and went, at 
some length, into the arguments which he advances in its favor. He also 
took occasion to say: "The operation is a most formidable one. It is only 
when one is face to face with something more formidable that a bold hand 
may accept this harsh remedy, as a possible means of relief, rather than 
submit to inevitable defeat." 

Dr. Martin's chief published works are: "Electricity in Diseases of 
Women and in Obstetrics" (1892); and "Treatment of Uterine Fibroids, 
Medical, Electrical and Surgical" (1897). Many of his contributions to the 
current literature of the profession have been already mentioned, and to the 
list given should be added one which appeared in the American Gynecological 
and Obstetrical Journal for April, 1897, entitled "A Plea against Hyster- 
ectomy, when Removing the Ovaries for Septic Pelvic Diseases." One of 
his best papers never went into the hands of the compositor, owing to the 
fact that his professional colleagues earnestly protested against its appearance 
in print. A brief extract from it appeared in the American Gynecological and 
Obstetrical Journal for March, 1899. In it he made use of these words: 
"I wish to add my solemn protest against the use of pelvic massage as a 
means of treatment in gynecology, unless the patient is anaesthetized to the 
surgical degree." 

Dr. Martin married Miss Isabelle, the only child of Dr. John H. Hollis- 



194 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



ter. In private life Dr. Martin is genial, social and kindly; in his work, 
earnest and ambitious; in business relations quick-witted and far-sighted, yet 
of scrupulous honor and integrity. As an executive officer he has shown 
rare capability, fairness and singleness of purpose. He is a member of Ply- 
mouth Congregational Church, and a generous contributor to its work. His 
benefactions to the poor are liberal, although unostentatious, and he and his 
friends are the main supporters of Charity Hospital, of which he may be 
called the founder. 



JOSEPH W. FREER, M. D. 

Joseph W. Freer, M. D., was born in Port Ann, New York, August 10, 
1816. His father,, Elias Freer, was a mechanic. His mother was Polly 
(Paine) Freer, from Vermont. His parents were among the early Dutch 
settlers of New York State, along the Hudson river. They subsequently re- 
moved to the neighborhood of Auburn, and there, in a select school, at 
Weedsport, Joseph W. Freer was educated. Until sixteen years of age he 
assisted his father, in his business, attending school in the winter. When he 
had reached his seventeenth year he entered a dry-goods store in Weedsport, 
and shortly afterward removed to Clyde, New York, and entered the drug 
store of his uncle, Lemuel C. Paine, a prominent physician of that place. 
Here he learned the drug business, and at the same time commenced the 
study of medicine. His uncle leaving Clyde and removing to Albion, he, 
shortly after, in the spring of 1836, at the solicitation of his brother, repaired 
to Chicago and entered his employ. Subsequently, his father having re- 
moved to Wilmington, Illinois, he joined him and remained with him for 
nine years, following farming and stock raising. At the expiration of that 
time he returned to Chicago, and entered the office of Dr. Daniel Brainard, 
as a pupil. Here he remained three years, attending also, at the same time, 
lectures in Rush Medical College, from which he graduated in 1849. A, 
short time before his graduation, however, he located himself about twenty 
miles from Chicago, in Cook county, and commenced practice, continuing 
there two years. 

In 1849 Dr. Freer was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in Rush 
Medical College, being the successful one out of a list of twenty applicants 
who competed for the appointment, by a lecture before the Faculty of the 
College. This position he filled for six years, and at the same time lectured 
on Descriptive Anatomy. In 1854 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy, 
which Chair he held until his appointment as Professor of Physiology and 
Surgical Anatomy, in 1859. In 1868 the branch of Surgical Anatomy he 




cjA dJf&iu^ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 195 

turned over to Professor Powell, and from that time his teaching was con- 
fined to Physiology. For four years he was abroad, returning during the 
session in winter to fill his Chair in the college. He was one of the surgeons 
to Cook County Hospital. He was a member of the State Medical Society, 
as well as of the American Medical Association, and at times he contri- 
buted to the literature of the profession. He also gave some lectures on 
vivisection. 

Dr. Freer was married in 1844 to Emeline Holden, of Illinois, and 
again, in 1848, to Catherine Gatter, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. 

In the great Chicago fire of October, 1871, he lost the larger part of 
his property; but with characteristic firmness and industry, he commenced 
anew to repair his pecuniary losses, and further still to increase his profes- 
sional reputation and influence. He enjoyed an excellent reputation, both as 
a surgeon and a general practitioner, of medicine. He was a successful 
teacher of Anatomy and Physiology, and a firm supporter of the honor and 
influence of the profession. After a severe and somewhat protracted illness, 
he died in his home at Chicago, April 12, 1877, leaving his family in com- 
fortable pecuniary circumstances. 



SETH SCOTT BISHOP, M. D., D. C. L., LL. D. 

Dr. Seth Scott Bishop is known to the medical profession of two hemi- 
spheres as an author, inventor and specialist. His father, Lyman Bishop, 
and his mother, Maria (Probart) Bishop, of English and Scotch extraction, 
respectively, were born and reared in New York. Both migrated to Wiscon- 
sin during their youth, met and married in Fond du Lac and there built their 
home, which is to the present day the home of the Doctor's widowed mother. 
More than fifty years of residence in the same house is suggestive of that 
continuity of purpose and stability of character which are prerequisites of a 
successful career. In the "Fountain City," as Fond du Lac is familiarly 
known, this eminent surgeon was born on February 7, 1852. He attended the 
public schools of his native town until his health became impaired, but when 
it became necessary to interrupt his studies to regain his health, instead of 
choosing a period of rest he preferred a change of occupation. This decision 
resulted in his entering a printing office and learning the trade in the service 
of the Fond du Lac Commonwealth, during which time he regained his 
health. With renewed strength the subject of our sketch re-entered school 
and graduated from a private academy, the Pooler Institute, in 1870. While 
pursuing his academic course he edited and published a school paper, The 



196 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Pen, setting the type and printing the paper outside of school hours. This 
practical knowledge of the art of printing has served a useful purpose during 
his later career in journal and book work. In 1871 and 1872 he attended 
the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York. In the 
latter part of this course he was offered a position as proof-reader on Col. 
Bundy's New York Mail and Express, at twenty-one dollars per week, but 
as he had not yet completed his course at the University he declined to 
abbreviate it even for an offer so tempting, as compared with five dollars per 
week on the Commonwealth, which necessitated half night work. 

After leaving the University our embryo doctor worked for a short 
time in the office of the Brooklyn Eagle, and then applied for a position with 
the publishing firm of Harper Brothers. There was only one vacancy to be 
filled, and that, being in the magazine department, required a knowledge of 
the Greek language, which had not, like Latin, been included in his academic 
studies. Here marked an important turning-point in his career. Determined 
to lack nothing which would fit him for any position he might wish, he 
decided to acquire a higher literary education. So, with the aid of private 
tutors, such as Rev. T. G. Smith, of Fond du Lac, and Professor Pettibone, 
he accomplished three years of preparatory work in a year and a quarter, and 
then pursued a classical course 'of study in -college at Beloit. At this point the 
college boy's health again failed, and for another diversion, after a brief 
period of recreation, he turned again to his medical books, entered the Medi- 
cal Department of the Northwestern University, and took his degree of 
Doctor of Medicine in 1876. For the succeeding three years the Doctor en- 
gaged in general practice in Wisconsin and Minnesota, removing to Chicago 
in 1879. In the wider field afforded by a metropolis, his genius has found 
treer scope, and his career during the past twenty years has been a succession 
of professional triumphs and a record of benefits rendered to suffering human- 
ity. Dr. Bishop has served on the medical staffs of the South Side and the 
West Side Free Dispensaries, and has been consulting surgeon to the Illinois 
Masonic Orphans' Home ever since its foundation. He is a surgeon to the 
Post-Graduate Hospital, and to the Illinois Hospital. He was for fifteen 
years a surgeon to the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, and is at 
present consulting surgeon to the Mary Thompson Hospital, and to the 
Silver Cross Hospital, of Joliet. He is Professor of Otology in the Chicago. 
Post-Graduate Medical School, and Professor of Diseases of the Nose. Throat 
and Ear in the Illinois Medical College. The recently established Chicago 
Physiological School, which is in affiliation with the University of Chicago, 
has appointed him a Consulting Surgeon to that institution. 

During his widely extended- practice, covering a period of more than 
two decades, Dr. Bishop has frequently found himself confronted with dif- 



PHYSICIANS AND -SURGEONS. 197 

Acuities arising from the want of instruments precisely adapted to the wants 
of the practitioner in his own special department of work. Bringing to bear 
upon these problems his own technical knowledge and an aptitude for in- 
vention not always found, even in the most eminent practitioners, he has de- 
vised various instruments and appliances which have been extensively adopted 
by his professional brethren. Among these are a massage otoscope, an im- 
proved tonsillotome, a middle-ear curette, an ossicle vibrator, a compressed- 
air meter, an adjustable illuminating apparatus, a light concentrator, a cold- 
wire snare, an improved middle-ear inflator, a camphor-menthol inhaler (he 
is the discoveror of camphor-menthol), powder blowers, a nasal knife, an 
automatic tuning fork, an ear aspirator, a combined periosteum elevator, 
chisels, gouges, and a guide for mastoid operations, etc. 

He is an honored member of the State Medical Societies of Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Illinois, of the Chicago Pathological Society, the Mississippi 
Valley Medical Association, and the American Medical Association, and. is 
Vice-President of the United States Hay Fever Association. He has been 
repeatedly chosen to represent one or more of these scientific organizations 
at the meetings of the International Medical Congress, the British Medical 
Association, and the Pan-American Medical Congress. Before most of 
these bodies he has read papers and delivered addresses of rare interest and 
value. Dr. Bishop has also contributed extensively to medical journals, and 
is an author of high repute. He is a clear and facile writer, and his many 
brochures upon various subjects, but mostly connected with Diseases of the 
Ear, Nose and Throat and their treatment, have attracted wide attention. 
Among some of the most noteworthy may be mentioned those entitled "Hay 
Fever," the "Pathology of Hay Fever," both being first-prize essays of the 
United States Hay Fever Association; "Cocaine in Hay Fever," a lecture 
delivered at the Chicago Medical College; a "Statistical Report of Twenty- 
one Thousand Cases of Diseases of the Ear, Nose and Throat," etc. His 
pratical text-book on the "Diseases of the Ear, Nose and Throat, and Their 
Accessory Cavities," appeared in 1897. Within a few months the first large 
edition was exhausted, and this was followed by enlarged and revised 
editions, which have been adopted in a large number of medical colleges as a 
text-book. The Doctor is one of the editors of the Laryngoscope, a monthly 
journal devoted to Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear, which has a wide 
circulation in all English-speaking countries, and he is the editor of the Illi- 
nois Medical Bulletin. 

In a social way Dr. Bishop has been honored by membership in a large 
number of fraternities, beginning with the college Greek letter society, the 
Beta Theta Pi, Beloit Chapter, and ending with the orders of Knight 



198 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Templar, the Thirty-second degree, and the Shrine in Masonry. His family 
consists of his wife and two children, Jessie and Mable, and they are his in- 
separable companions at home and in travel. 



RICHARD DEWEY, M. D. 

Richard Dewey, whose work along the line of Mental Diseases has made 
his name familiar, was born in Forestville, Chautauqua county, New York, 
in 1845, an d grew up amid the scenes of country life. He was educated 
in the public schools, and in 1864 was graduated from D wight's high 
school, Clinton, New York. That same year he entered the Literary 
Department of the University of Michigan, and after two years of careful 
and painstaking work there entered the Medical Department of the same in- 
stitution, and received his degree of M. D. in 1869. Returning to his native 
State, he went to Brooklyn, where he passed successfully a competitive ex- 
amination which secured for him six months service as resident physician, 
and six months as resident surgeon, in the Brooklyn' City Hospital. At the 
close of his term of service there he determined to have a wider experience 
in his chosen work before entering upon private practice. The outbreak of the 
Franco-Prussian war offered ample facilities for the practical study of sur- 
gery, and he volunteered as Assistant Surgeon, through the German Consul 
at New York. He was stationed in the field hospital at Pont-a-Mousson, near 
Metz, France, and afterward in the Reserve Hospital at Hessen-Cassei, Ger- 
many. Among others he received the medal "fiir Pflichttreue im Kriege." 
After peace was concluded, the young surgeon was honorably discharged, 
and he at once went to Berlin, where for one semester he studied under Vir- 
chow and others in Berlin University. In October, 1871, Dr. Dewey re- 
turned to America, and engaged as Assistant Physician at the State Hospital 
for the Insane, at Elgin, Illinois, remaining in that position until 1879. His 
faithful services, as well as his accurate knowledge and careful study, won 
for him the recognition of those high in authority, and in 1879 he was ap- 
pointed Medical Superintendent of the new State Hospital at Kankakee, 
Illinois, where his executive ability became an important factor in the up- 
building of the new institution. This was constructed on what is known as 
the "cottage plan," and was a new departure, requiring much care and con- 
sideration. In the beginning, in 1879. there were seventy-five patients, while 
in 1893, the year Dr. Dewey left, there were two thousand. It was the largest 
institution of the kind, save one, in the United States. In 1893. in Chicago, 
Dr. Dewey entered, for the first time, upon the private practice of the pro- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 199 

fession, but his fame had gone abroad and it was not possible for him to keep 
out of public work. In 1895, in addition to his Chicago practice, he was 
called upon to take charge of the Milwaukee Sanitarium, at Wauwatosa, 
■Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Although this sanitarium was well 
established when Dr. Dewey took charge, it has since rapidly outgrown its 
former proportions. 

From 1894 to 1897 Dr. Dewey was editor of the American Journal of 
Insanity, the organ of the American Medico-Psychological Association, of 
which association he was President in 1896. He occupies the Chair of Clin- 
ical Professor of Mental Diseases in the Northwestern Medical School for 
Women, and a similar position in the Post-Graduate Medical School of 
Chicago, and is connected with several hospitals in Chicago and Milwaukee. 
He is a member of the National societies, the American Medico-Psychologi- 
cal Association, the American Neurological Association, and the American 
Medical Association, and the State Societies of Illinois and Wisconsin. He 
is an honorary member of the Chicago Medical Society, of the Chicago 
Academy of Medicine, and of the Chicago Medico-Legal Society. 

Dr. Dewey was married, in 1873, to Lillian Dwight, of Clinton. New 
York, who died in 1880. She was a woman of much personal worth and 
charm, a great-granddaughter of Timothy Dwight, the first president of Yale 
College. A son, Richard Dwight, and a daughter, Ethel Lillian, were born 
of this marriage. In 1886 Dr. Dewey married Mary E. Brown, daughter of 
Dr. Thomas A. Brown, of Brighton, New York. Miss Brown was the first 
superintendent of the Illinois Training School for Nurses and is herself a 
graduate of medicine, though she has never practiced. She has been univer- 
sally admired and beloved, and has seconded her husband in his labors as few 
could have done. Two children, Ellinor and Donald, have been born to this 
marriage. 



HENRY BAIRD FAVILL, M. D. 

The surprising success attained by Dr. Favill as practitioner, instructor 
and author affords a notable illustration of what may be accomplished by a 
mind of rare native power and ripe culture, when supported by a physique 
such as Nature bestows upon only a few of her chosen sons. Dr. Favill was 
born August 14, i860, at Madison, Wisconsin, and was educated in the com- 
mon schools of that city and at the University of Wisconsin, graduating 
from the last named institution at the early age of twenty years. A few 
months after receiving his degree of Bachelor of Arts he began his profes- 
sional studies at Rush Medical College, matriculating in September, 1880, 



200 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

and receiving his diploma in 1883. His standing in his class may be inferred 
from the fact that, a vacancy occurring in the staff of Internes at the Cook 
County Hospital during his Senior year, he was appointed to fill the position, 
holding the same until the expiration of his predecessor's term. Returning 
to Madison, he began practice in partnership with his father, a prominent 
physician of that city. The elder Dr. Favill died within eight months after 
his son's return, and the latter continued in practice there alone until 1893, 
for three years being connected with the Law School of the State University 
of Wisconsin as Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence. In the last named year 
(1893) ne accepted invitations extended to him by the Chicago Policlinic 
and Rush Medical Colleges of Chicago to fill the Chair of Medicine in the 
former and the Adjunct Professorship of Medicine in the latter. In 1898 he 
was chosen to fill the Ingals Professorship of Preventive Medicine and Thera- 
peutics in Rush Medical College, and in 1900 was appointed Professor of 
Therapeutics. 

Dr. Favill's attainments and skill commanded recognition from the out- 
set, from his professional brethren no less than from the public at large, and 
he has been made attending physician at St. Luke's, the Policlinic and the 
Passavant Memorial Hospitals. In writing of Dr. Favill and his career since 
coming to Chicago Dr. Frank Billings, himself one of the most eminent 
physicians of the Northwest, says: "Dr. Favill has been in Chicago but 
little more than six years, and in that short time he has acquired a private 
and consultation practice and a position as a teacher which proclaim to the 
profession what his personal friends have always known; that he is an un- 
usually strong man mentally, with a vigorous personality, backed by a physi- 
cal make-up which carries all obstructions and impediments, great and small, 
from his pathway." 

Dr. Favill's personal appearance is at once striking and commanding. 
His frame is large and strong, and, with an erect bearing and firm tread, sug- 
gests the soldier. His head is finely shaped and well poised, his mouth indi- 
cates decision, and his features convey the impression of firmness blended 
with gentleness. Affable and courteous, he has the intense, innate ab- 
horrence of all that savors of deceit or pretense which is characteristic of the 
true man. The following estimate of his worth, from the pen of Dr. X. S. 
Davis, Jr,., will be read with interest : "Dr. Favill is full of energy, decisive 
in action, and prompt to appreciate the condition of his patients. These 
characteristics, with wide experience in his profession, have made him de- 
servedly a most popular practitioner. By his professional brethren he is liked 
for his genial character as well as appreciated highly for his attainments. 
He is a graceful and fluent speaker." 

He is an influential and honored member of many important medical 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 201 

associations and societies, among the best known of which are the American 
Medical Association, Illinois State Medical Society, Chicago Medical Society, 
Chicago Society of Internal Medicine, Chicago Pathological Society, Wis- 
consin State Medical Society and American Academy of Medicine. As a 
writer he is clear and forceful, and while not a prolific author some of his 
publications are recognized as among the most valuable contributions to the 
literature of his profession. Among those best known are the following: 
"The Treatment of Chronic Nephritis," Chicago Medical Recorder, August, 
1897; "The Treatment of Arterio-Sclerosis," Medical News, March 19, 1898; 
"Modern Methods of Medical Instruction" (a response to a toast), Journal 
of the American Medical Association, April 9, 1898; a Paper read during 
participation in a general discussion of Rheumatism, published in the Journal 
of the American Medical Association ; "Toxic Correlation," an address de- 
livered before the alumni of Rush Medical College, and published in the 
Inter-collegiate Medical Journal, July, 1898; an address on "Rational Diag- 
nosis" before the Wisconsin State Medical Society, published in the Transac- 
tions of the organization and in the Western Clinical Recorder, June, 1899. 



JOHN HAMILCAR HOLLISTER, A. M., M. D. 

The eighth lineal descendant of John Hollister, who, coming from Eng- 
land, settled in Glastonbury, Connecticut, in 1642, is John Hamilcar Hollister, 
son of Mary (Chamberlain) and John Bently Hollister. Marked family char- 
acteristics are the result of the long line of Puritan and Revolutionary an- 
cestry, combining strict conscientiousness, uprightness and integrity with man- 
liness, courageousness and an unflinching devotion to principle. To these 
Dr. Hollister is no stranger. 

He was born in 1824 in Riga, New York, where he lived but two years, 
his parents then removing to Romeo, Michigan, where the early part of his 
life was spent. In .1831 the father died, leaving the widow with three little 
children, of whom John, then seven years of age, was the eldest. Consider- 
ing the times and its frontier position, exceptional advantages, both educational 
and social, were offered by the town of Romeo. Its few inhabitants were largely 
younger members of old New England families, bringing with them into the 
new West a demand for refinement and culture. The children who came up 
under this influence were imbued with all that is best in American civilization. 
Having diligently availed himself of all the advantages offered at home, the 
boy, at seventeen, went to Rochester, New York, to pursue his studies and 
determine upon his life work. Here he resided in the family of his uncle, 



202 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

George A. Hollister, a wealthy and influential citizen, while taking a full 
course in the Rochester Collegiate Institute. Deciding upon a professional 
career, he returned to Massachusetts, the home of his ancestors, and entered 
the Berkshire Medical College, from which he graduated in 1847. The mother 
and home were still in Romeo, and the West claimed the new-made doctor 
by ties not to be sundered. His first professional experience was gained at 
Otisco, Michigan, where he remained until 1849, when he removed with his 
family to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and where his brother Harvey, with 
whom he has always been closely associated, still resides. In this year he 
married Miss Jennette Windiate, to whose devotion, sympathy and counsel 
much of his subsequent success is due. After six happy and prosperous years 
in Grand Rapids, the claims of Chicago for future greatness impressed the 
young man, and a desire to be in the midst of such advantages as would be 
offered led him, in 1855, to locate with his wife and son in this city. From 
that time his life divides itself into three distinct channels : the man profes- 
sional, the man philanthropic, the man domestic. 

In his profession no man holds a higher or more respected position than 
Dr. Hollister. As one of the oldest and most successful general practitioners, 
he is widely and popularly known among the laity, while among his fellow 
physicians his career has been such as to merit their admiration and esteem. 
In 1856 he was one of the founders of the Chicago Medical College, and since 
its organization he has held the Chairs of Physiology. Anatomy. Pathological 
Anatomy and General Pathology. Aside from this he has occupied many 
positions of honor, and trust : 1855, Demonstrator of Anatomy at Rush Medical 
College; 1863-64, Surgeon to Mercy Hospital; for twenty years Clinical Pro- 
fessor to the same institution ; Attendant at Cook County Hospital, and one of 
the presidents of its Staff; President of the Illinois State Medical Society and 
its Treasurer for over twenty years ; Trustee of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation for eight years and editor of its journal for two years: member and 
President of the Chicago Medical Society and charter member of the Academy 
of Sciences. These, with all the duties pertaining to a large practice, go to 
make up the professional career of Dr. Hollister. True, they are many, and 
have been conscientiously performed, but they claimed but a portion of his 
time. 

Surrounded from childhood by all the influences of a devout mother and 
a Christian home, his life has been one long consecration to his Master's work. 
The minister and the Christian physician go side by side, lightening the load 
of sinful and sick humanity. The opportunities opening on every side for a 
helping hand or an encouraging word in such a life are incalculable, and those 
who turned to Dr. Hollister for aid never came in vain. His sympathy, his 
counsel, his prayer, was ever ready for the tempted and the afflicted. All his 




Lj^Lxix^ /£, Qj^TCr-C\j 



^> 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 203 

life has been devoted to Sunday-school work, sometimes as a teacher, or 
leader of young men, sometimes as superintendent, but always there. As 
superintendent he has served for many years at Tabernacle, Clinton, Plymouth 
and Armour Missions. The Union Park Church grew out of a Sunday-school 
which he organized, and many weak and struggling churches owe their present 
life to his timely work and generosity. For forty years he has been a member 
of Plymouth Church, and for years one of its deacons. His positions in 
societies organized for Christian work are varied and numerous. He has been 
President of the Y. M. C. A.; President of the Chicago Congregational Club; 
President of the Chicago Bible Society ; Vice-President of the American Sun- 
day-school Union; member of the Board of Guardians of the Reform School; 
Director of the Illinois Home Missionary Society, and active member of the 
Board of Commissions of New West Commission. 

In his home life Dr. Hollister has always been most happy ; surrounded by 
friends, endeared to a vast circle, he has held a position only to be won by 
intelligence, culture and manly integrity. His marriage with Miss Jennette 
Windiate fifty-five years ago was a most happy one and their home in all the 
years has been ideal. In 1858 death claimed their only son, and in 1861, the 
only daughter. Later another little one came to gladden the household, who 
still survives, Isabelle, wife of Dr. Franklin H. Martin, of this city. 

We have among us many prosperous and successful men, but none 
whose lives offer to young men a more fruitful example of all that is upright, 
noble and manly in life than Dr. Hollister. 



CASEY A. WOOD, M. D. 

A sound mind in a sound body is the normal, but not the most usual, con- 
dition of the members of the human family. Disease and accidents make the 
physician and the surgeon the conservators of our health and happiness, and 
therefore place them among the most necessary and useful individuals in the 
progress of civilization. Prominent among the medical men of Chicago who 
have realized their high mission and successfully striven to fulfil it, is Dr. 
Casey A. Wood, who was born at Wellington, Ontario, Canada, November 
21, 1856, son of Orrin Cottier and Louisa (Leggo) Wood, the latter the 
daughter of a British naval officer. 

Orrin C. Wood was a well known physician, a native of New York 
State, and a descendant of Epenetus Wood, who was born in Berkshire, 
England, in 1692, and settled near Newburgh-on-Hudson, in 1717. S. Casey 
Wood, M. P. P., of Toronto, the brother of Orrin C, was formerlv Secre- 



204 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

tary of State, and for many years Treasurer of the Province of Ontario. His 
son, S. Casey Wood, Jr., LL. B., a barrister, also living in Toronto, is fast 
winning fame in his profession, and doing his part to add new laurels to a name 
already well known in Colonial affairs, as well as illustrious in the annals of 
Revolutionary fame. All three bearing this name were named after a friend 
of Dr. Wood's grandfather, a member of the same family to which belong 
Gen. T. L. Casey, the architect of the Congressional Library, a member of the 
Order of the Cincinnati, and numerous other distinguished citizens bearing 
the same name who were active in the early history of Rhode Island. 

Dr. Casey A. Wood received his elementary education at the Ottawa 
(Canada) Grammar School, and later attended the Ottawa Collegiate Insti- 
tute, from which he was graduated as prizeman in 1872. After a year's 
attendance at a French school at Grenville, Quebec, he began the study of 
medicine with his father, Subsequently he entered the Medical Department 
of the University of Bishop's College, Montreal, and also received instruction 
in Clinical Medicine and Surgery at the Montreal General Hospital. After 
completing the course there, he passed the examinations required for admis- 
sion to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and also became a 
licentiate of the College of Physicians of Quebec. For several years Dr. 
Wood practiced general medicine and surgery in Montreal, where he was one 
of the surgeons of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and, most of the 
time, held the Chairs of Chemistry and Pathology in the University of Bish- 
op's College. In 1877 he retired from general practice to make a specialty of 
Ophthalmology and Otology. Several months were spent at the Xew York 
Eye and Ear Infirmary, and subsequently two years in Berlin, Vienna, Paris 
and London. During this time he acted as assistant to Dr. Arthur Hartmann, 
in Berlin, was House Surgeon (pro tempore) in the Central London Ophthal- 
mic Hospital in Gray's Inn Road, and was Clinical Assistant at the Golden 
Square Throat Hospital, London. The greater part of this period was given 
to study at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital (Moorfields). 

Settling in Chicago, Illinois, in 1889, Dr. Wood soon acquired a large 
practice and filled numerous positions. He was Ophthalmologist for two 
years to Cook County Hospital, Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Alexian Brothers 
Hospital for, four years, and is now Attending Oculist to St. Luke's Hospital, 
the Passavant Memorial Hospital, and the Hospital of the Post-Graduate 
Medical School. He is also Consulting Ophthalmic Surgeon to St. Anthony's 
Hospital. He has been Professor of Ophthalmology in the Chicago Post- 
Graduate School since 1890, and Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology in the 
University of Illinois since 1898. 

In 1899 Dr. Wood was elected Chairman of the Ophthalmological Sec- 
tion of the American Medical Association, and later was made president of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 205 

the Chicago Ophthalmological and Otological Society. For many years he 
was editor-in-chief of the Annals of Ophthalmology, and now has charge of 
its Department of Italian Literature. He is also one of the principal editors of 
the Ophthalmic Record. Among other journals with which he has been con- 
nected editorially are the Chicago Medical Standard, The Clinical Review, 
and the Anales de Oftalmologia, published in the City of Mexico. He wrote 
"Wayside Optics" for the Fopidar Science Monthly; a series of illustrated 
papers on the "Eyes and Eyesight of Printers" for the Inland Printer, and 
has contributed extensively to both the general and special medical press. He 
has published "Lessons in Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Diseases," "Pri- 
mary Sarcoma of the Iris" (with Dr. Brown Pusey) and "The Toxic 
Ambyopias, their Pathology and Treatment." Dr. Wood has translated 
numerous ophthalmological treatises by German, French and Italian writers, 
the chief work of this kind having been done for the Annals of Ophthalmol- 
ogy and the Archives of Ophthalmology. Perhaps his best known effort in 
this line is of a chapter by Parinaud for the Norris & Oliver System of Dis- 
eases of the Eye. He has himself written chapters for the Randall and de 
Schweintz American Text Book of Diseases of the Eye and Ear, Hare's 
"Therapeutics," the Wright-Posey Text-book of Diseases of the Eye, Ear, 
Nose and Throat, the Hansell-Sweet Text Book of Diseases of the Eye 
and other publications of a similar nature. He has written, 
in conjunction with his associate, Dr. T. A. Woodruff, a book entitled "The 
Commoner Diseases of the Eye; how to diagnose and treat them." 

Dr. Wood is a member of the International Medical Congress; the Pan- 
American Medical Congress; Die Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft; the Illi- 
nois State and Chicago Medical Societies ; the American Medical Association, 
and the Chicago Neurological, Medico-Legal and Ophthalmological Societies. 
He is also a Fellow of the American and Chicago Academies of Medicine. 
Socially, he belongs to the University, Union League and Calu- 
met Clubs of Chicago. His paternal great-grandfather, when thir- 
teen years of age, enlisted as a drummer boy in a New York 
regiment of the Continental army and, by virtue of this ser- 
vice, Dr. Wood is a member, of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the Rev- 
olution. For many years he has been a member of the Twentieth Century and 
Caxton Clubs. He has always evinced considerable interest in all forms of 
literary effort, but especially in libraries, being a constant contributor to the 
Library of the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, and to other col- 
lections of books. His own collection of works relating to the eye and its dis- 
eases is probably the most extensive private library of the kind in the country. 

In 1902 Dr. Wood endowed the Wood Gold Medal, presented for the 
previous twenty years to the student passing the best final examination in the 



206 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Medical Department of the University of Bishop's College, the medal in ques- 
tion being given in memory of the donor's grandfather, Thomas Smith Wood, 
Esquire. 

In 1903 Dr. Wood's Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of 
D. C. L., for distinguished services to literature and to the University. 

In October, 1886, Dr. Wood was married to Emma Shearer, daughter 
of a prominent merchant of Montreal, Canada. 

The foregoing brief sketch will impress upon the mind of the most casual 
reader that Dr. Wood, while largely indebted to heredity and environment, 
owes his place in professional and social circles more to his untiring energy 
and constant industry than to all other factors. Although born of a stock that 
has made its impress on our social and political fabric for nearly two centuries, 
and educated in the best schools of his time, the Doctor has not relied upon 
social standing nor on college diplomas to place him at the front. On the 
contrary, he has improved every hour of his time to make him what he is — 
a good citizen, a polished gentleman, a ripe scholar, an able contributor to 
medical literature, and an eminent physician. 



SAMUEL J. JONES, A. M., M. D., LL D. 

Dr. Samuel J. Jones, of Chicago, was one of the earlier and more distin- 
guished physicians, who devoted his time and talents to the practice and teach- 
ing of Ophthalmology and Otology. He was born March 22, 1836, 
in Bainbridge, Pennsylvania. Inheriting an active temperament, he re- 
ceived a good collegiate education in Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, and 
then entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, 
from which he graduated in i860. The same year he was commissioned as 
Assistant Surgeon in the United States Naval Service, and, entering directly 
upon active service, continued it for eight years, during which time he was 
promoted to the rank of Surgeon. In 1868 he resigned from the Medical 
Corps of the Navy, spent the greater part of the year in the hospitals of 
Europe, and on his return, commenced practice in Chicago in the Departments 
of Ophthalmology and Otology. He was soon assigned to the Department 
of Diseases of the Eye and Ear in St. Luke's Hospital, and there commenced 
giving clinical instruction, and in 1870 he was elected to the Professorship 
of Ophthalmology and Otology in the Northwestern University Medical 
School, and gave clinical instruction regarding Diseases of the Eye and Ear 
in the Mercy Hospital, and the Southside Free Dispensary. He early gained 
a high reputation and a lucrative practice in his chosen specialty, and re- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 207 

tained both for more than a quarter of a century. He was an active and 
leading member of the regular Medical Societies, local, State and national, 
and held official positions in most of them. A few years ago he took a 
prominent part in the efforts to lessen street noises, and to secure for the 
people the use of pure food. Dr. Jones died in Chicago October, 4, 190 1. He 
was never married. 



R. G. BOGUE, M. D. 

The following tribute to Dr. Bogue was read by Dr. John Bartlett at the 
meeting of the Chicago Medical Society, succeeding the death of Dr. Bogue. 

Mr. President: "The occasion, the consideration by this society of the 
death of one of its members, whose friendship has been alike valuable and 
pleasant to myself, impels me to speak some words in appreciation of our 
lamented associate. 

"Dr. R. G. Bogue was, fortunately for himself and for those about him, 
remarkably adapted by nature for success in his chosen calling. Born in the 
woods of New York, and brought up in the wilds of Michigan, he found him- 
self, the fostering care of his honored parents being over, with nothing to 
forward his fortunes other than his own strength and intelligent purpose. 
The school of his childhood and that of his youth — the farm — was the same 
that has turned out the majority of those able men, whose deeds have excited 
the admiration of their fellows, and made illustrious the nation's annals. 
Farm life, with the culture it gives to the intelligence, to the habit of in- 
dustry, and to self-reliance, served to foster in the youth those qualities which 
he needed in the practice of medicine. And there is no doubt but that his 
subsequent years of army life, apart from the great professional experience 
with which they enriched him, had much to do with the formation of his 
strong character. 

"Dr. Bogue was an honest, straight-forward, honorable Christian. He 
was plain and entirely unassuming in manner, and noticeably quiet and re- 
tiring in demeanor. He was a sturdy, strong-minded man, very positive in 
his judgments. Mentally he was observant and critical, with a rare power 
of grasping comprehensively, and analyzing critically, the many elements of 
a diagnostic problem. By a process, rapid almost as intuition, all existing 
probabilities would be weighed, the least weighty eliminated, and the most 
probable only, left in view. Then with calm judgment, unbiased by such 
circumstances as the prevalent new theory, or the more recent authoritative 
dictum, he would reach a conclusion upon which he stood ready to assume 
all responsibility, and to act. 



208 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

"As an operator, Dr. Bogue was circumspect and cautious, deliberate 
and slow. Joined with the characteristics here implied was conspicuous and 
unusual tenacity of purpose, a persistence of effort which sometimes during 
an operation aroused the concern of his assistants. He ever preserved, what- 
ever the exigency, a dauntless courage. When there was before the surgeons 
of the Hospital for Women and Children an especially grave, obscure, and 
generally unpromising case, demanding an operation that required unusual 
experience and skill, and the question arose who should undertake it, we had 
not long to wait for Dr. Bogue's favorite expression. T will attack it.' 

"As Dr. Bogue's judgment was superior, so were his results. The want 
of all brilliancy in his operations was fully compensated for by the excelled 
averages of successes attained. 

"Though best known as a surgeon, Dr. Bogue was a general practitioner. 
He was an excellent physician, manifesting in practice the same good judg- 
ment ever shown by him in surgery. And in Obstetrics, of which he was 
little fond, and of which he sometimes, in moments of self-disparagement, 
declared he knew nothing, his coolness, skill and persistence stood him in 
good stead in many a capital operation. 

"Dr. Bogue began his career as a lecturer with great misgiving. In 
fact, in the earlier period of his teaching, to deliver a lecture was an ordeal 
from which he shrank. In later years his long experience begat confidence 
As a clinical lecturer he was excellent. His style was conversational, devoid 
of the least effort at display; his remarks were concise and directly to the 
point. 

"To our colleague occurred in his recent years one of the saddest lots 
which can befall mankind. In the midst of a large practice, with many obli- 
gations resting upon him, he was almost suddenly stricken helpless. In a 
few short months, he became totally blind. One hears of persons who prefer 
to die in harness. Dr. Bogue was one of these; he continued to practice 
weeks after his sight was most seriously impaired. His last operation was 
for strangulated hernia. During it, it was with astonishment and concern 
that we saw him hesitate, inquiring of his assistants whether the tissue be- 
neath the knife was the sac or the intestine. Determining this, he went on 
with the operation, bringing it to a successful close. A few weeks later he 
sent for a colleague in a case of labor, coming to realize that he could not de- 
termine the condition of the child, or the state of the perineum, when birth 
should occur. Shortly after this event his labors, independent of an assistant:, 
ceased. 

"The dreadful manner in which blindness had wrecked so able a man. 
was most painfully demonstrated to me during a call I made upon him soon 
after his loss of sight was complete. I found him seated in an easy chair with 





/^t>^^7^^^Z 




PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 209 

a towel over his lap on which rested a bowl into which he was stoning raisins. 
Recognizing my voice, the Doctor genially greeted me, saying cheerfully, 
'You see I am making myself useful in the culinary department.' The 
sight of this learned, forceful, skillful surgeon reduced by the accident of 
disease from the highest functions in the noblest art of man, to the lowly 
service in which he was then engaged, was to me beyond expression painful. 
But this picture was not all dark ; it was radiant with the charming luminosity 
of Christian patience and content. I noticed with sadness that the Doctor 
continued his humble task while he threw light upon the knotty surgical 
problem which I had brought for his solution. 

"Mr. President : In the past few years the members of our society have 
been called upon with a mournful frequency to part with associates endeared 
to us by reason of their excellencies as men and physicians. And now our 
hearts are again saddened by the departure of that honest, sturdy soul, that 
admirable surgeon, that noble friend, R. G. Bogue. So long as our memories 
last, may his example of earnest effort, courageous work and true friendship 
never fail to stimulate, to energize and to fraternize us. Peace to his Ashes."' 



TRUMAN W. BROPHY, M. D., D. D. S., LL. D. 

Truman W. Brophy, an eminent dentist and physician of Chicago, was 
born in Gooding's Grove, Will County, Illinois, April 12, 1848, son of William 
and Amelia (Cleveland) Brophy. He was educated in the common schools 
of his native town and at the academy in Elgin, Illinois, and in 1867 entered 
upon the study of Dentistry in the office of Dr. J. O. Farnsworth, of Chicago. 
Later, he took the course at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, and 
graduated in 1872, his time between sessions being spent in study and obser- 
vation in Eastern hospitals. He began practice in Chicago, and from the start 
achieved more 'than the usual degree of success, his acknowledged skill and 
thorough training soon bringing many difficult cases under his care. This 
fact led him to feel the need of more extended knowledge of Medicine and 
Surgery, and in 1878 he began a regular course of study at Rush Medical 
College, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1880. His 
high professional standing, his acknowledged skill, and the fact that he was 
the President of his class during his undergraduate course, were not un- 
recognized by the Faculty, and immediately upon his graduation he was 
unanimously elected to fill the Chair of Dental Pathology and Surgery in 
Rush, which position he still holds. He has also been Clinical Lecturer at 
the Central Free Dispensary, and in 1883 was largely instrumental in the 



2io A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

organization of the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, of which he has been 
Dean since its organization, also acting as President. His success in the 
work of organizing and building up that great institution of dental learning, 
the largest school of the kind in the world, is probably his greatest achieve- 
ment. The number of students in this school annually is nearly six hundred. 
In his successful management of this great enterprise he has shown himself 
a man of remarkable organizing ability and business capacity, and this talent 
has been exhibited in every business transaction in which he has engaged. 

Dr. Brophy has been very successful as a teacher, but is probably best 
known, both in Europe and in America, as a surgeon. He has contributed 
to Oral and General Surgery a number of original operations, the best known 
of which is the so-called "Brophy operation" for the radical cure of cleft 
palate. This was a wide departure from the old operations, and the success 
which has attended it in more than five hundred cases which have fallen into 
his hands has challenged the admiration of the world, until now it is an ac- 
cepted practice among all advanced surgeons, and has wrought a revolution 
in the surgical treatment of this great deformity. In recognition of his pro- 
fessional eminence, and his rare surgical skill, Lake Forest University in 
1894 conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., while he has been 
elected Associate and Fellow of many professional and scientific bodies in this 
country and in Europe. 

Dr. Brophy is recognized as one of the leaders of his profession in the 
world. He took the initiatory steps and successfully organized the Section 
of Dentistry in the American Medical Association. He has been President of 
the State Dental Society, the Odontological Society of Chicago, the Chicago 
Dental Society, the National Association of Dental Colleges, and other 
bodies. He has been active in international association work, and has been 
three consecutive years elected President of the International Commission of 
Education at meetings held in London, Stockholm and Madrid. Dr. Brophy 
was designated by the United States as one of its representatives to the Inter- 
national Dental Congress held in Paris in 1900, and was vice-president for 
the United States at the Fourteenth International Medical Congress held in 
Madrid, Spain, in April, 1903. He is Chairman of the Department of Educa- 
tion of the Fourth International Dental Congress to be held in St. Louis in 
1904. He enjoys a wide social popularity, and is a member of the Union 
League, the Athletic and the Illinois Clubs. 

In 1873 he was married to Emma J. Mason, daughter of Carlvle Mason, 
of Chicago, Illinois. They have one son and three daughters : Jean Mason 
Brophy Barnes, Florence Brophy Logan, Truman YV. Brophy, Jr., and Alberta 
L. Brophy. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 211 

The Doctor has been a constant writer for medical and dental periodi- 
cals, and the following are among his contributions to professional literature : 

"The Treatment of Exposed Pulps," Illinois State Dental Society, 
Transactions, 1877. "Trigeminal Neuralgia," read before the Wisconsin 
State Dental Society, 1879; published in the Monthly Dental Journal, April, 
1880. "Dental Education," Illinois State Dental Society, 1883. "Dental 
Education," Illinois State Dental Society, Transactions, 1883. "Relation of 
Dentistry to Medicine," American Medical Association, 1884. "Oral Sur- 
gery," Illinois State Dental Society, 1886. "The Matrix — A New Eorm," 
Transactions of the New York Odontological Society, 1886. "Diagnosis of 
Oral Tumors," Illinois State Dental Society, Transactions, 1887. "Lesions of 
the Dental Branch of the Fifth Pair of Nerves," Illinois State Dental Society, 
1889. "Remarks on a New Operation for the Closure of Cleft Palate," 
American Dental Association, 1891. "Affections of Salivary Glands and 
Tissues in close proximity to them," Dental Reviezv, December, 1891. 
"Surgical Treatment of Palatal Defects," read before the Section on Dental 
and Oral Surgery, Columbian Dental Congress, Chicago, August, 1893. 
"Relation of the Profession to our Dental Colleges," Illinois State Dental 
Society, 1894. "Exhibition of Patient operated on for Empyema of Antrum 
Frontal Sines and Ethmoid Cells," Peoria, Illinois, May 11 and 14, 1897, 
Illinois State Dental Society. "Early Operations for Closure of Cleft 
Palate," Forty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Illinois State Medical Society, 
May 18 and 20, 1897. "Conservatism in Oral Surgery," Springfield, Illinois. 
May 10, 1898, Illinois State Dental Society. "Clinic on Facial Neuralgia," 
Illinois State Dental Society, Chicago, May 12, 1899. "Surgical Treatment 
of Palatal Defects," Paris, France, August 8, 1900. "The Dental Curricu- 
lum," Stockholm, Sweden, August 17, 1902. "The Necessity of More Thor- 
oughly Teaching Dental Pathology and Oral Hygiene in Schools of Medicine," 
Madrid, Spain, April 7, 1903. 



JOSEPH BOLIVAR De LEE, M. D. 

The career of such a man as Dr. Joseph B. DeLee goes far to strengthen 
the popular belief that this is the day of young men. With advantages for 
the highest education open to all, the spirit of emulation and the ambition to 
surpass are at their keenest. The professional man of a generation or so back 
was obliged to acquire by slow experience what the student of to-day has 
presented to him in the class-room. While this change has lengthened some- 
what, and strengthened immeasurably, his preparatory work, it launches 
him upon his individual work with a better equipment than that of the older 



212 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

man who has gained the same point, but by a rougher road. Thus, with the 
wisdom of age, but the freshness of youth, the young physician of to-day 
starts almost where his predecessor stopped, and, with youthful enthusiasm, 
makes more rapid progress than the other, deemed possible. Another ele- 
ment, too, has entered in. The general study of medicine, from being a 
sufficient preparation for a life work, has from year to year become more and 
more regarded as only a basis for special study. The numerous lesser 
branches of the principal line have all become as important in themselves, and 
the man who takes up one line and follows it thoroughly to success is the one 
who accomplishes most for his science and his generation. Such has been 
the case with Dr. DeLee. A close student, a careful observer and investigator 
throughout his student years and since, he entered upon his independent 
career, well prepared to cope with its problems, and he has shown how wide 
the path of a specialist may be. 

Dr. DeLee was born October 28, 1869, in Cold Spring, New York, on 
the Hudson river, opposite West Point, and was the ninth child of his mother. 
She was a native of Germany, born near Posen. The father was a furrier 
by trade, and in time engaged in general merchandising. The Doctor's grand- 
father was a surgeon in the French army, and settled in Poland after Na- 
poleon's retreat from Moscow. Dr. DeLee commenced attending school in 
his native town when four years old. When he was seven years old the family 
moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and between the ages of eleven and thir- 
teen years he lived with a rabbi in that city, graduating with high honors in 
Hebrew Scripture. Following this he attended public school in New York 
City, graduating at the age of fourteen as valedictorian of his class, and the 
next year he took up the classical course in the College of the City of New 
York. For the three succeeding years he was a pupil at the South Division 
High School, Chicago, and the remainder of his student life was devoted to 
preparation for his profession. He matriculated at the Chicago Medical Col- 
lege, where he pursued his medical studies for three years, during the two 
last assisting Dr. W. E. Casselberry in the Nose, Throat and Chest Depart- 
ment, of which he took complete charge during Dr. Casselberry's three 
months' stay in Europe. On his graduation from that institution, at the age 
of twenty-one, he won the Davis prize for the best graduating thesis, his 
subject being "The Reaction of Degeneration." 

Having won second place in the competitive examination. Dr. DeLee 
was Interne at the Cook County Hospital in 1891-92. and in 1892-93 engaged 
in the general practice of medicine and surgery, locating on the corner of 
Twenty-second street and Michigan avenue. However, he did not give all 
his time to private practice during this period, as he held various positions 
in the distinctively educational line of his profession, being Demonstrator of 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 213 

Anatomy at the Chicago Medical College; Quiz Master in Physiology at the 
Dental School of the Northwestern University; Nose, Throat and Chest 
Clinician at the South Side Dispensary connected with the Chicago Medical 
College, and also Clinician at the Children's Clinic connected with that in- 
stitution; Attending Surgeon at the Michael Reese Hospital Dispensary; and 
Lecturer on Physiology at the Illinois Training School for, Nurses and the 
Baptist Missionary Training School. 

In July, 1893, Dr. DeLee went to Europe, where he remained nearly a 
year and a half, studying in Vienna, Berlin and Paris. He devoted his time 
principally to general diagnosis and Pathology, later to Obstetrics, Gyne- 
cology and the Diseases of Children. On his return from Europe, Novem- 
ber 17, 1894, he resumed the practice of general medicine and surgery, and 
was made third Demonstrator of Obstetrics at the Northwestern University 
Medical School. Dr. DeLee now entered earnestly upon the work in which 
he has found his greatest line of usefulness. On December 1, 1894, he made 
his first effort to found a public lying-in hospital and dispensary, and the 
failure with which that attempt met did not discourage him, for the following 
February he tried again and got started, opening a little dispensary at No. 
295 Maxwell street. The same month (February, 1895) Dr. W. W. Jag- 
gard was taken ill and had to go to Europe for rest and recreation, and Dr. 
DeLee took his Senior lectures at the Northwestern University Medical 
School, completing the course that year. During the next year the dispen- 
sary grew so that he gave up his private practice for ten months in order to 
properly attend to it, devoting all his time to that work. In the fall of 1895, 
Dr. Jaggard failing to do his work in the Obstetric Department, Dr. DeLee 
was "invited to do the lecturing in Obstetrics to the two classes, third and 
fourth year students," and he gave his first lecture twelve hours after re- 
ceiving the notice, in October, 1895. 

On January 1, 1896, the Doctor resumed private practice, but resolved 
to be an exclusive obstetrician, and during that year he acted as Attending 
Obstetrician to the Mercy Hospital, and lectured at the Illinois Training 
School for Nurses, besides finishing Dr. Jaggard's course on Obstetrics, pre- 
viously mentioned. In October, 1896, he was made Senior Lecturer on 
Obstetrics at the Northwestern University Medical School, and the following 
year Dr. DeLee was assigned all the work in the Obstetric Department at that 
institution, and honored with the title of Lecturer. In 1898 he was made 
Professor of Obstetrics at the Northwestern University Medical School, a 
position which he has ever since honored, by his thoroughness doing his full 
share toward maintaining the high standards of that institution. The same 
year Dr. DeLee was made Attending Obstetrician to Wesley Hospital and 
lectured on Obstetrics to the Nurses at the Mercy Hospital. In 1899 he was 



2i 4 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

made Obstetrician-in-Chief to the Chicago Lying-in Hospital, which he had 
founded that year, and was also made Obstetrician to Provident Hospital. 
In 1902 he was made Attending Obstetrician to the Cook County Hospital. 

In 1895 Dr. DeLee became a member of the Chicago Medical Society, 
and of the Illinois State Medical Society. At the age of thirty-two he was 
honored with the secretaryship of the latter, and the following year was made 
a Councilor of the Chicago Medical Society; in 1899 he "became a Fellow of 
the Chicago Gynecological Society, of which he was also made secretary at 
the age of thirty-two. 

Dr. DeLee has contributed to the literature of his profession over thirty 
articles on Obstetrics and allied subjects; has written extensive notes for use 
as text-books by Senior and Junior students at the Northwestern University 
Medical School ; and a complete set of notes on Obstetrics for nurses, which 
latter has been elaborated into a book of 460 pages and 165 illustrations. He 
has the reputation of being a most thorough diagnostician, with a mental and 
physical equipment in every way equal to the work he has undertaken. This 
mere recital of his accomplishments and the various phases his work has taken 
is sufficient, without elaboration, to give the reader an idea of the vast amount 
of work he has gone over during the comparatively brief period of his inde- 
pendent professional career. We give the comments of two eminent brother 
practitioners. Dr. Ridlon expresses himself thus: 

"I have known Dr. Joseph B. DeLee since he was a student in North- 
western University Medical School, where he graduated in 1891. I have 
watched his progress, step by step, from the student benches in the medical 
school to the first place as a teacher of Obstetrics in the city of Chicago. 
The [progression of no other man I have ever known holds so valuable a 
lesson for the young doctor as that of Dr. DeLee. His professional life shows 
that it is possible for a man with little social influence, and little or no pro- 
fessional assistance, to gain the highest place in an incredibly short time, if 
only he is willing to work. Dr. DeLee is a teacher, but he holds his high 
place because he is a man who does things. In a few years he has built up 
the largest obstetric clinic in Chicago, and. having the material for teaching, 
he can and does command any position and any favors within the gift of any 
medical school in the city. He is a nine specimen of the successful young 
American, who keeps busy minding his own affairs, who 'just saws wood.* 
who 'gets there.' " 

Dr. N. S. Davis. Sr.. writes as follows: "With a good general educa- 
tion Dr. DeLee pursued his medical studies in the Northwestern University 
Medical School, from which he graduated with high standing in 1891. He 
was immediately appointed Demonstrator and Lecturer on Operative Obstet- 
rics in his Alma Mater. The next year he was elected full Professor of 




s<^C&££^ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 215 

Obstetrics in the college, and became Attending Obstetrician to Mercy Hospi- 
tal. He also the same year became Obstetrician in Chief to the Chicago 
Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary, an institution largely resulting from his 
own untiring energy and perseverance. He has since been appointed Obstet- 
rician to the Wesley Hospital and some other institutions. Probably no one 
else in this city has done so much to promote the cause of the clinical teach- 
ing of Obstetrics, and at the same time to furnish the best attendance possi- 
ble for the poor. And I have found the names of very few men on the pages 
of medical history who have done as much good work during the first ten 
years of their professional lives as has been done by Professor DeLee here 
in Chicago, in his chosen field." 



ALFRED CLEVELAND COTTON, A. M., M. D. 

If so forceful a character as Dr. Cotton ever required an incentive in life, 
other than his own inborn determination to make an honorable name in the 
professional world, he would have found it in the genealogical annals of his 
distinguished family. It may be said without exaggeration that the Cottons 
and the Mathers are a part of the very foundation of New England and of the 
United States. Moreover, their ruggedness of character, was permeated and 
refined by the intellectual culture of the universities. By education and by 
instinct the members of the Cotton family were drawn into the channels of 
professional life, and for many generations, whether as clergymen, teachers 
or physicians, have stood in the van as leaders in the provinces of morals, in- 
tellect, science and practical works. 

Rev. John Cotton, founder of the American branch of the family, was 
born in Derby, England, on the fifteenth of December, 1585, and was a Fellow 
of Cambridge University and a Puritan clergyman previous to his removal 
from the old Boston to the new in 1633. Previous to landing at the infant 
Hub, however, his wife gave birth to a son, who in commemoration of the 
fact was named Seaborn. In the order of nature Seaborn grew to manhood, 
married, and his wife had a daughter, Sarah, who, in turn was espoused by 
the famous Increase Mather, their son in turn being Cotton Mather, of still 
greater, fame. 

The branch of the Cotton family to which Dr. Cotton is directly related 
has, as its buds, John, the son of Seaborn, a citizen of Hampton, New Hamp- 
shire; Thomas and Melvin, representing the succeeding generations, the latter 
being a Revolutionary patriot, and all diversifying successful professional 
work with the healthful and necessary labors of the agriculturist. 

Gradually spreading from the Hub, members of the family located in the 



216 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

colonies and commonwealths north of the Old Bay State. Porter, the son 
of Melvin Cotton, a literary character and a teacher of high standing, mar- 
ried Miss Elvira Cleveland, of Vermont. Migrating to the South, although 
a Congregationalist and an anti-slavery advocate of radical views, his abilities 
were promptly recognized, and he served for some time in the Faculty of 
Washington College, an institution of high standing near Natchez, Missis- 
sippi. Notwithstanding that he might have made a name for himself as an 
educator in the South, his social and political beliefs were so antagonistic to 
those prevailing in that section of the country that he returned to Vermont, 
and after suffering some business reverses decided to cast his fortunes with 
those of the great new West. In 1840, therefore, he located in Griggsville, 
Pike county, Illinois, and, like the practical man that he was, became a mill 
owner, a grain dealer and a general merchant, despite his thorough educa- 
tion and his training as a pedagogue. Cultured, modest, industrious, upright, 
original, and a power in the young community, he lived there for forty 
years, dying in the ripeness of old age, universally respected and loved. 

Of the six children born to Porter Cotton, Dr. Alfred Cleveland Cotton 
is the youngest, the date of his birth being May 18, 1847. After receiving a 
primary and grammar school education, in accordance with his father's 
wishes, Alfred was placed under the intellectual care of Rev. YV. H. Whipple, 
a Congregational clergyman, the design being to prepare the boy for college. 
At sixteen years of age, however, his studies were interrupted by the Civil 
war. Enlisting with the Union army as a drummer, he experienced sixteen 
months of service, half of which period he spent in Southern prisons, having 
received wounds from which he did not recover for some time after being 
mustered out of the service. As soon as his health would permit, he resumed 
his studies at the Illinois State Normal University, at Bloomington. being 
soon elected president of the Philadelphian Literary Society. Graduating 
from that institution in 1869, for the succeeding seven years Dr. Cotton served 
as a principal of grammar and high schools and superintendent of city schools. 
During this period traits of character, which were no doubt partially in- 
herited, were so developed by experience and training as to mark him ns 
among the foremost educators of the State, he being especially prominent, 
perhaps, as a teacher of Latin and the natural sciences, and most successful 
as an organizer of graded schools. It was during the period above named 
(in 1873) that Dr. Cotton also served as Deputy County Superintendent of 
Schools for Iroquois County. 

Several years previous to this time he had commenced his medical 
studies with Dr. J. R. Stoner, of Griggsville. and in 1S76 he abandoned his 
career of non-professional teaching forever. During the autumn of that 
year, well grounded in the preparatory branches for a medical course, he 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 217 

entered Rush Medical College, graduating in 1878 as valedictorian and presi- 
dent of his class. He was at once invited to accept a lectureship as a member 
of the Spring Faculty. This he did, but decided to locate for practice at 
Turner, Du Page county, Illinois. Here his abilities, both as an executive 
and professional man, promptly earned for him not only a large practice, but 
such public positions as Coroner of the county in 1878 and 1881, and Health 
Officer of the village in 1880. As the smallpox epidemic invaded that part 
of the State during his incumbency of the last named position the office proved 
far, from being a sinecure. As Turner is quite an important railway center. 
Dr. Cotton's practice included much railway surgery, he receiving the ap- 
pointment of an Assistant Surgeon of the Chicago & Northwestern railway. 

The continuous encouragement which he received from his Alma Mater, 
added to the promptings of his own ambition for a broader professional field, 
attracted him irresistibly to Chicago. In 1880 he had accepted the position of 
Lecturer on Materia Medica and Therapeutics at Rush Medical College and 
although still a resident of Turner opened an office in this city. It was 
during May, 1882, that he established himself in Chicago, on the west side, 
as a resident physician, where he soon became widely known, especially as an 
expert in Diseases of Children. Dr. Cotton had previously served as assistant 
in the newly established clinical department on Diseases of Children, con- 
nected with Rush Medical College, and during 1883-84, that he might 
further perfect himself in this specialty, he spent a year in the leading nledical 
institutions of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, particularly in the 
post-graduate and polyclinic schools of the metropolis. Returning to Chicago 
in the fall of 1884, he energetically pursued his former lines of work, being 
splendidly equipped to accept the further honors which came to him. In 
1886 he received the degree of Master of Arts from Illinois College, in 1888 
he was made Adjunct Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in 
Rush College, and in 1892, on the decease of Prof. Knox, he was appointed 
to succeed him in the clinical Chair of Pediatrics. 

Dr. Cotton's eminent success, both as a theoretical and clinical instructor 
in Diseases of Children, led Rush Medical College to create for him a full 
professorship of that department, which he still occupies and honors. His 
prominence in this specialty has also induced many public institutions to 
solicit his services. Since 1882 he has been connected with the Children's 
Department of the Central Free Dispensary, either as Attending or Con- 
sulting Physician, and for many years he has served the Presbyterian Hospi- 
tal in a like capacity, as well as holding the positions of Obstetrician to that 
institution and Lecturer to the Illinois Training School for Nurses. Besides 
the many duties connected with his extensive practice and the public institu- 
tions named above, Dr. Cotton has assumed those naturally associated with 
his service of several years on the medical staff of Cook County Hospital and 



2j8 a group of distinguished 

four years as City Physician of Chicago. His term in the latter capacity 
covered a period of 1891-93, and again from June, 1895, to 1897. By virtue 
of his position he was also a member of the Chicago Board of Health, had 
medical supervision of the Police Department and House of Correction, and 
was in charge of the Chicago Isolation Hospital and the infectious disease 
ward of the Cook County Hospital. During President Harrison's term of 
office he served as Examining Surgeon on the United States Pension Board, 
and for years was elected Surgeon for the Grand Army of the Republic 
and the Veteran Union League. 

Dr. Cotton is a member of the Chicago Medical and Pathological So- 
cieties, the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Pediatric Society, 
the American Medical Examiners Association and the American Medical As- 
sociation, before which he has read papers that have been widely circulated. 
In 1894, at the national meeting of the latter body held in San Francisco, he 
was chosen temporary chairman of the Section on Diseases of Children, and 
at the Baltimore Congress, which assembled in June, 1895. he was selected as 
chairman of that Section. It may be added that Dr. Cotton's reputation, 
made as Professor of Diseases of Children to Rush Medical College, has 
firmly established his position as one of the leading American authorities 
Pediatrics. He is one of the few Americans who have been honored with 
election to membership of the Societe Francaise d' Hygiene, of Paris. France. 

He has served as President of the Chicago Pediatric Society: tbe Chi- 
cago Medical Examiners Association; tbe Chicago Physician's Club; the Chi- 
cago Alumni Chapter. Phi Rho Sigma, and of the Grand Chapter of the 
same fraternity. For nearly twenty years he has held the position of Medi- 
cal Referee for Chicago and vicinity with the Prudential Life Insurance 
Company, of Newark. New Jersey. Dr. Cotton is a Mason oi high rank, 
and has held the office of Post Commander in the Grand Army of the 
Republic. 

In spite of his busy professional life Dr. Cotton has found time for for- 
eign travel and study. His frequent contributions to medical literature, 
especially on pediatric subjects, have received international recognition. He 
was twice elected as delegate to tbe International Medical Congress, to the one 
in Moscow in 1897, and again to Madrid in 1903. 

Dr. Cotton is the author of a text-book on "Anatomy. Physiology and 
Hygiene of Infancy and Childhood." also of a course oi instruction on the 
"Care of Children." issued by the American School of Household Economics. 
in which he is supervisor of instruction on that subject. He is now at work 
upon a treatise on Diseases of Children under contract with J. Lippincott & 
Co., of Philadelphia. 

The Doctor's family includes his wife, formerly Miss Nettie McDonald, 
a daughter. Mildred Cleveland Cotton, and a son. Tohn Rowell Cotton. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 219 

JAMES STEWART JEWELL, M. D. 

Dr. James Stewart Jewell, late of Chicago, was born in Galena, Illinois. 
September 8, 1837. After receiving his primary education in the schools 
of his native town, at the age of eighteen years he commenced the study cf 
medicine under the direction of Dr. S. M. Mitchell, of Williamson county, 
Illinois, in 1855. He attended a course of medical college instruction in 
1858-59 at Rush Medical College, and the following year he attended the 
Medical Department of Lind University, and graduated at the head of the 
first graduating class of that institution, which is now the Northwestern 
University Medical School. He returned to Williamson county and engaged 
in general practice in i860, at a time when epidemic erysipelas and cerebro- 
spinal meningitis were quite prevalent in many parts of the State. Among 
his first contributions to medical literature was an interesting history of the 
prevalence and character of those diseases in Williamson and adjoining coun- 
ties. During his last term as student in the medical school he distinguished 
himself as an expert demonstrator of anatomy, and in 1862 he accepted a call 
to the Professorship of Anatomy in his Alma Mater, and changed his resi- 
dence to Chicago. During the succeeding seven years he filled that position 
with a zeal and ability rarely equalled; and at the same time acquired an 
extensive general practice; made frequent contributions to medical literature 
and to medical and scientific societies, and, withal, was an enthusiastic teacher 
of Bible history in the Sabbath schools. By such a variety of important and 
enthusiastic work his health began to show signs of failure, and in 1869 he 
resigned his professorship and decided to spend one or two years in Palestine, 
both for improvement in a knowledge of Bible history and physical health. 

He spent more than one year in traveling in Palestine and Egypt, and 
on returning visited the more important medical institutions in Europe, 
reaching Chicago in 1871. On resuming the practice of his profession, he 
decided to limit his attention chiefly to Nervous and Mental Diseases, and 
the following year he was appointed Professor of Nervous and Mental 
Diseases in Chicago Medical College, then Medical Department of North- 
western University. In discharging the duties of that Chair he displayed the 
same enthusiasm and gained the same popularity that had previously accom- 
panied his work in the Chair of Anatomy, in the same school. "He took a 
leading part in organizing the American Neurological Society and was its 
President three years. In 1874 he commenced editing and publishing the 
Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, a large sized quarterly on which he 
bestowed a great amount of mental labor, and to which he soon gave a very 
high reputation. He was an active member of the Chicago and Illinois State 
Medical Societies, of the American Medical Association, the Chicago Acad- 



220 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

emy of Sciences, and of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences. He was award- 
ed the honorary degree of Master of Arts by the Northwestern University in 
1869. He was familiar with several modern languages, and accumulated one 
of the most valuable private medical libraries in the city. In addition to his 
college and editorial work he carried on an extensive practice in his chosen de- 
partment, and was ever ready to lend a helping hand in the Sabbath schools 
and other moral interests of society. A short time after his return from his 
travels abroad and resumption of professional work, he began to have occa- 
sional attacks threatening pulmonary tuberculosis. These so increased, that 
in 1883 he deemed it advisable to transfer his interests in the Journal and re- 
sign his professorship in the college, and endeavor to seek the benefit of a 
milder climate. But after suffering much from both gastric and pulmonary 
disorders, he died at his home in Chicago. April 18, 1887. aged a little less 
than fifty years. 

As a teacher and writer he was remarkable for his readiness in the use 
of language, for he was always ready in speech, and equally at ease in his 
library, his lecture room, at the bedside of the sick, in the halls of science, in 
the religious assembly, and with his loved ones at his own fireside. During 
the twenty-seven years of his professional life, he accomplished an amount of 
valuable professional, scientific and religious work rarely equaled by others 
in the same number of years. 

Dr. Jewell was married in 1864 to Mary C. Kennedy, of Nashville. 
Illinois, who died in 1883. They had seven children, only four of whom sur- 
vived their parents, i. e.. two sons and two daughters. 

[N. S. Davis, M. D.. Sr.] 



MAURICE L. GOODKIND, M. D. 

Born at an auspicious period in the history of the world, when youth 
is no barrier to high honor bravely won. Dr. Maurice L. Goodkind. of 
Chicago, has in a few years attained an eminence in the medical profession 
equalled by comparatively few practitioners. A native of Chicago. Dr. Good- 
kind obtained his preliminary literary training in the schools of that city. 
His medical education he received in AYilliams College, and in the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, completing his studies in the 
latter institution in 1889. The following year found him active in the work 
of his calling in Michael Reese Hospital. Chicago, where he remained until 
1891. That year he went to Vienna, Austria, and there, in close study under 
the noted instructors in the University, he delved deeper into the theory and 
practice of medicine and surgery until 1893. During the interval between 




\^ Wts A *L 



a ^ v ■ o 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 221 

his graduation and his trip abroad, Dr. Goodkind was closely associated 
with some of the brightest minds in the profession. He served as assistant 
to Professor Delafield in Internal Medicine, and also to Profs. M. Allen 
Starr and B. Sachs in Neurology. After his return to America, in 1893, Dr. 
Goodkind was appointed Medical Inspector of the Chicago Board of Health, 
serving during the smallpox epidemic. In 1894-95 he was secretary of the 
Civil Service Commission Medical Board. At the present time he is Pro- 
fessor of General Diagnosis at the Chicago College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, attending physician to Michael Reese Hospital, attending physician 
to Cook County Hospital,- consulting physician to the Home for Aged Epis- 
copalians and also to the Home for Aged Jews. 

The Doctor is a member of the Chicago Medical Society; the Medico- 
Legal Society; the Neurological Society; and is Treasurer of the Society of 
Internal Medicine. He is also a member of the Physicians' and the Quad- 
rangle Clubs. Among the medical papers of which he is the author may be 
mentioned the following : "Guide to Insurance Examiners" ; "Headaches," 
in M. Allen Starr's book on Nervous Diseases; "Closure of the Great Vessels 
of the Neck"; and articles on Leukaemia, multiple sclerosis, and blood 
diseases. 



CHARLES THEODORE PARKES, M. D. 

More than a decade has passed since his family, his city and the medi- 
cal profession throughout the entire land were called upon to unite in deplor- 
ing the demise of this eminent surgeon, whose distinguished career so 
pointedly and vividly illustrated the present era of scientific progress; yet his 
loss is still felt, his memory is still green, and the fruits of his years of 
patient investigation and of his ripe scholarship still remain with us as a 
precious, an imperishable, legacy. 

Dr. Parkes was born at Troy, New York, August 19, 1842. He was 
the youngest of a family of ten children born to Joseph Parkes, who emi- 
grated to America from England. The elder Parkes was a man gifted with 
a high order of intelligence and endowed with rare enterprise and energy. 
By occupation he was an iron manufacturer. While Charles was a mere 
child he removed with his family to Pennsylvania, going thence to St. Louis, 
and finally taking up his residence in Chicago, in i860. The future surgeon 
and scientist was then a youth of eighteen years. His father had met with 
business reverses, and he felt that it now devolved upon him to become the 
architect of his own fortune. But he was strong in both mind and body, self- 
reliant, courageous and ambitious, and he looked forward to the future with- 



222 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

out fear. Eagerly desirous of securing a higher education, he matriculated 
at the University of Michigan, and it was during his second year as a student 
there that he first felt a vocation to a physician's life. Accordingly, he at 
once began so to select his studies and shape his college course as best to 
qualify him for his chosen life work. Before two years of this peaceful 
academic life had passed, however, the reverberation of the guns in Charles- 
ton harbor had startled and aroused the civilized world. The deep indigna- 
tion and ardent patriotism of the loyal North found voice in countless ways, 
but the final answer was stern. The perpetuity of democratic institutions, 
the honor of the flag, even the very existence of the Nation, were in peril; 
and from hilltop and valley, from workshop and farm, from the counting- 
house and the quiet cloistered halls of seats of learning, poured forth the in- 
vincible host which was to avenge a wrong and maintain tbe right. Ann 
Arbor's students were not behind those of other universities in making quick 
response to the call to arms, and young Parkes was among the first to volun- 
teer, content to enter bis name as a private on the roll of his country's de- 
fenders, joining Company A, One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois Infan- 
try. He remained in tbe service for a little over three years, enduring the 
fatigue of the forced march and the ordeal of battle with unflinching devotion. 
Of the story of his military career Dr. Parkes's innate modesty made him 
loath to speak. He rarely alluded to the circumstance that he was given 
charge of the fortification of the famous "Island No. 10" in the Mississippi 
and supervised the engineering work in connection therewith, nor was he fond 
of exhibiting the shoulder straps and sword which he wore home as captain 
in the Sixty-ninth United States Colored Troops. His comrades, nevertheless, 
tell that by virtue of his magnificent physique he was regarded as the strongest 
man in the regiment, and that he was always noted for his reckless courage. 
At the close of the war he declined the tender of a colonel's commission. 

On returning to Chicago he at once began his professional studies, under 
the preceptorship of Dr. Rea, then filling the Chair of Anatomy in Rush Medi- 
cal College. In 1868 he graduated from that institution, and at once was 
made Demonstrator of Anatomy. During his college course he displayed a 
wonderful mental activity, maintaining his stand at the head of his class. 
This engagement, however, did not prevent his commencing practice in his 
own office the same year. From the first his success may be said to have been 
extraordinary. His knowledge, tact, and quickly sympathetic nature soon 
brought him patients, while the painstaking, conscientious attention which he 
devoted to each case permitted few failures. Seven years later he accepted the 
Professorship of Anatomy at Rush, and for twelve years he brought to the 
discharge of the duties incident thereto an aptitude and fidelity rarely equalled. 
To the dull, dry details of an uninterestins; branch of medical study he sue- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 223 

ceeded in imparting an interest largely clue to his own method, patience and 
skill. His students loved him, not only for his thorough knowledge and his 
faculty for succinct explanation, but for habitual gentleness and forbearance 
as well. The class of 1881 presented him with a handsomely engrossed 
testimonial, and thousands of young practitioners in the West pay cheerful 
tribute to the earnestness and thoroughness of his instruction, to which they 
attribute in no small degree their success in surgery. 

In 1887 he succeeded the eminent Dr. Moses Gunn in the Chair of 
Surgery in his Alma Mater. Not long afterward the governing authorities 
of the institution requested him to deliver, before the Faculty and students, 
a memorial address upon the life and services of his illustrious predecessor. 
Few panegyrics of a similar nature can be said to rival it in purity of thought, 
keenness of analytical power, breadth of conception and simplicity and ele- 
gance of diction. A single passage, reading almost like a prophetic forecast 
of his own career, may be quoted here: 

"The man who would inscribe his name high on the walls of the temple 
erected in commemoration of the deeds of great surgeons alongside the scroll 
bearing the name of Moses Gunn — upon the reading of which all men will 
gladly pay the obeisance of honor and respect — must be a perfect master of 
the construction and functions of the component parts of the human body; 
of the changes induced in them by the onslaught of disease; of the defects 
cast upon them as a legacy by progenitors ; of the vital capacity remaining 
in them throughout all vicissitudes of existence. He must be, at the same 
time, wise in human nature, wise in the laws of general science, and wise in 
social amenities. Most men, in any vocation, come sooner or later to enjoy 
some portion of their work more than all the rest. The treasure of Professoi 
Gunn's heart, professionally, was his free surgical clinic; the work he most 
loved was done here, and the doing of it gave the most happiness. No 
possible combination of circumstances, except absolute physical disability or 
absence from the city, seemed powerful enough to keep him out of the well- 
known arena at the appointed hour of his coming. Who can ever, estimate 
the good done by this man, in this one department of labor? Further, all 
of it done for charity's sake, his best efforts, his accumulated knowledge, his 
manhood's energies, his bodily strength, given away for years as freely and 
bountifully as the air we breathe is given us." 

Dr. Parkes was subsequently chosen Treasurer of Rush, and at the time 
of his death he retained this office, as well as the Chair of Surgery. His 
reputation as a surgeon, resting upon his recognizedly profound learning and 
his singular success, brought his services into request at many of Chicago's 
leading hospitals. He was an Attendant Surgeon at the Presbyterian, Sur- 



224 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

geon-in-charge at St. Joseph's, Consulting Surgeon in the Hospital for 
Women and Children, Surgeon-in-chief of the Augustana Hospital and At- 
tending Surgeon at the Cook County Institution. He also filled the Chair 
of Surgery at the Chicago Policlinic. He was a member and for a time 
President of the Chicago Medical and Gynecological Societies, and found 
time to support the State and National Associations. In 1890 he attended 
the World's Medical Congress in Berlin, and was made chairman of the Sur- 
gical Section of that body of savants. 

His great specialty was abdominal surgery, in which he was a pioneer 
investigator, and perhaps the greatest living authority of his day. He was 
the first to advocate uniting severed intestines, in this antedating both Drs. 
Senn and Murphy. In speaking of his research in his chosen field, Dr. N. S. 
Davis, Sr., writes : "For the purpose of gaining a better knowledge of both 
the consequences and method of treatment of gunshot wounds of the intes- 
tines, Dr. Parkes, in 1883, conducted an extensive series of experiments 
upon dogs. The experiments numbered more than forty, involving not only 
direct gunshot wounds of the intestines and mesentery, but also of nearly all 
the viscera of the abdomen. He studied carefully the dangers from 
hemorrhage, from inflammation and from sepsis. The following year, as 
chairman of the Section of Surgery and Anatomy of the American Medical 
Association, he delivered an address, in which he ably discussed the subject 
of gunshot wounds of the abdomen and the relations of his experiments there- 
to. To his address was appended a detailed account of each experiment 10 
the number of forty-five." [See Vol. II, Journal American Medical Asso- 
ciation, 1884, pp. 589-608.] 

With regard to these experiments on canines. Dr. J. H. Etheridge. a 
cotemporary, has given a somewhat more detailed account, as follows: "Dur- 
ing the summer and fall of 1883, he began a series of experiments in intes- 
tinal surgery which revolutionized existing ideas in that branch of surgical 
achievements. Up to that time surgery had treated gunshot wounds of the 
abdomen expectantly. His extended experiences in laparotomies led him to 
inquire, 'Why cannot surgery at once and fully avail to place such injuries 
within reach of the operative art?' His first publication of experiments on 
dogs was based on work performed on thirty-nine animals. The dog. after 
being anaesthetized, was shot through the abdomen : a laparotomy followed, 
the perforations through the intestines being found and closed, under 
thorough antisepsis. The number of recoveries in his animals astounded the 
medical profession, and led to further experiments in all parts of the world. 
He made his first report on his new work at the meeting of the American 
Medical Association at Washington, in 1884. He exhibited three specimens 
of intestines in successful cases, preserved from dogs slain after their re- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 225 

covery. He took with him to that meeting a small, living dog, from which 
he removed five feet of intestine that had been perforated by bullet holes so 
numerous that section was necessary. His later and more complete reports 
of this work have been translated and published in the medical literature of 
all countries of the globe. He may be said to have laid the foundation for 
the rational treatment of penetrating gunshot wounds of the abdomen, and 
might have truthfully exclaimed with Horace, 'Exegi monumentum, aere 
perennius'." 

In the same vein Dr. J. B. Murphy has written : "To Prof. Charles 
Theodore Parkes belongs the honor of having made the first scientific experi- 
mental research on gunshot wounds of the small intestines, in the West. 
His work was so thorough and^ so complete that it laid the foundation for 
many of the subsequent practical appliances for the repair of intestinal 
lesions. He first devoted himself to the observations of the immediate, inter- 
mediate and remote pathological conditions resulting from gunshot wounds 
in the abdomen, and clearly and forcefully outlined the necessities for im- 
mediate laparotomy if good results were to be obtained by surgical interven- 
tion. He thoroughly blazed the way to present accepted methods of treat- 
ment of gunshot wounds. Preceding Prof. Parkes's forceful demonstrations 
and experiments, gunshot wounds of the abdomen were treated on the 
'expectant' plan. From the time of his paper, which was a milestone in ab- 
dominal surgery, they have all been treated by immediate intervention. Many 
of us recall how spell-bound that great surgical audience was when Prof. 
Parkes read the original report of his experiments at Washington. His vork 
in the surgery of the gall-bladder, which was then in its very infancy (indeed 
if not in its pre-natal stage), was no less conspicuous in influencing the pro- 
fession in the proper direction, in this line of treatment, than was his work in 
intestinal surgery. Preceding Parkes, there was not a quarter of a hundred 
ideal cholecystotomies, while now there are more than that many thousand, 
showing his great foresight in recognizing the practical place for surgery in 
the relief of the common, and up to his time untreated, surgical maladies. 
He was indeed a past master in the large range of abdominal surgery of the 
preceding decade. With his force and genius, it is difficult to estimate what 
he would have accomplished in the rushing tide of progress of the decade 
that has passed since his death." 

To Dr. Parkes's capacity for work there appeared to be no limit. A 
tireless enthusiasm, born not of self-seeking but of devotion to science and 
humanity, was supported and re-enforced by a magnificent physique. Broad- 
shouldered, full-chested, and with powerful limbs, his height was more than 
six feet and his weight exceeded two hundrd pounds — well-proportioned, 



226 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

although with a slight tendency toward portliness. A gentle, kindly face was 
surmounted by a massive brow, and his appearance commanded at once con- 
fidence and respect. Well rounded features and a general air of bonhomie 
inspired affection, and with little children he was always a favorite and a 
confidant. In writing of the extraordinary amount of work which he per- 
formed at his clinics, Dr. Etheridge says : "Each week throughout the year, 
up to the time of his demise, he conducted three surgical clinics, which, for 
variety and extent, were pronounced by physicians competent to judge as 
without parallel in the annals of medical college teaching. * * * He was the 
pioneer of laparotomists before large classes of medical students, and was 
the first to perform the operation of cholecystotomy in a public clinic. * * * 
I have seen him open a clinic with a laparotomy, following it with a thigh 
amputation, a knee resection and four minor operations." 

His quick perception and almost intuitive judgment rendered him well 
nigh infallible in diagnosis, and yet, although confident in his own con- 
clusions, he was ever ready to lend a willing ear to suggestions. His touch 
was gentle and his nerve steady, and no matter how tense the strain or grave 
the responsibility of a delicate operation, he was ever able to guide his knife 
to the "unerring line of safety." Throughout his busy life he was always a 
hard, enthusiastic student. A fluent reader of French and German, he kept 
himself in close touch with the medical literature of continental Europe. In 
1878 he spent some months abroad, studying under eminent surgeons in 
England, Germany and France, and ten years later again visited the hospitals 
and infirmaries of the Old World. 

Dr. Parkes read much, and possessed a cultivated literary taste, being not 
averse to seeking rest and relaxation in the perusal of fiction. His own 
literary style was founded upon the best models. He was fond of collecting 
rare medical works. One of his most highly prized treasures was an edition 
of "Godefridi Bidloo, Medicinae Doctoris et Chirurgi. de Anatomia-Hvmani 
Corporis, Centum & quinque tabolis, per G LeLairesse. A. D.. 1685." After 
the appearance of his brochure on the treatment of gunshot wounds, to which 
reference has already been made, his writings consisted chiefly of reports of 
unusually interesting and important clinical cases and the preparation of his 
clinical lectures. For several years before his death he had been accumulating 
material for works on general and abdominal surgery, but his sudden passing 
away prevented the completion of his self-imposed task. Those writings 
which he left were published by Mrs. Parkes. in "Clinical Lectures" (The 
W. S. Keener Co., Chicago). A partial list of his published writings is ap- 
pended: "A Case of Uterine Cancer." Chicago Medical Journal, 1880: "A 
Case of Complete Vertical Dislocation of the Patella." Ibid.. 1883 : "Intestinal 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 227 

Obstruction from an Abscess behind the Posterior Layer of the Peritoneum; 
Abdominal Section; Recovery;" Ibid., 1883; "A Case of Compound Com- 
minuted Fracture of Skull, with Wound of the Superior Longitudinal Sinus ; 
Lateral Suture of the Vein Wound; Recovery;" Annals of Anatomy and 
Surgery, Brooklyn, 1883; "Operative Interference in Penetrating Gunshot 
Wounds of the Abdomen," Medical News, 1884; "A Unilocular Ovarian 
Cyst, Weighing Twenty-four Pounds," New York Medical Journal, 1884; 
"Gunshot Wounds of Small Intestines," Chicago Medical Journal 
and Examiner, 1884; "Removal of Epithelioma from Inside of 
Cheek Without Hemorrhage into the mouth," Weekly Medical 
Review, Chicago, 1884; "A Case of Cholecystotomy," American 
Journal Medical Science, 1885 ; "Laparotomy for Abdominal Tu- 
mors," New York Medical Journal, 1884; "Specimens from Bat- 
tey's Operation and of Ovarian Tumor, with Twisted Pedicle," Journal 
American Medical Association, 1886; "Cholecystotomy," Medical News, 
1886; "Uterine Fibroids, Treated by Fluid Extract of Ergot," Ibid., 1886; 
"Successful Removal of Uterus for Fibroids," Journal American Medical 
Association, 1886; "Two Cases of Cholecystotomy," Transactions, American 
Surgical Association, 1886; "A Review of Some Facts Connected With Gun- 
shot Wounds of the Abdomen, and Practical Deductions Therefrom,"^»»a/i- 
of Surgery, St. Louis, 1887; "Interstitial Pregnancy, with Removal of the 
Product of Conception through Uterine Cavity," Journal American Medical 
Association, 1887; "What Are the Best Methods of After-Treatment in 
Cases of Gunshot Wounds requiring Laparotomy and Suture of Intestines?" 
Transactions, New York Medical Association, 1886; "A Case of Ovarian 
Cystoma with Twisted Pedicle," American Journal Obstetrics, 1887; "A 
Case of Nephrectomy," Journal American Medical Association, 1888; "Re- 
port of First Fifty Operations for Ovarian Tumors," Obstetrical Gazette, 
Cincinnati, 1888; "A Case of Cholecystotomy, with Specimens of Gallstones," 
Western Medical Reporter, 1889; "A Precise Method of Excision of Clavicle, 
Scapula and Humerus," Journal American Medical Association, 1889; 
"Fibro-sarcom in Antrum Highmori;" "Entfernung der Geschwulst nebst 
des angegriffenen Knochen; Heilung," Arch. f. klin. Chir., 1889; "Abdomi 
nal operations for Uterine Disease," Obstetrical Gazette, 1889; "Ovar- 
iotomy and Other Cases," Medical News, 1889; "Cyste der Bauchspeicheld- 
riise; Befestigung der Cystemwand an die Bauchwand; Heilung." Arch. f. 
klin. Chir., 1889; "A Case of Total Extirpation of Kidney," Western Medi- 
cal Reporter, 1889; "Rundzellensarcom 12 cm. im Durchmesser, die Seite des 
Kopfes-einnehmend ; Entfernung der Geschwulst und Bedeckung der Wunde 
mit Hautnach Thiersch," Arch. f. klin. Chir., 1889; "Entfernung des Armes 



228 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

nebst Scapula und Clavicula," Arch, f. klin. Chir., 1889; "Exarticulation des 
Beines in Hiiftgelenke; Osteosarcom des Humerus; Heilung," Arch. f. klin. 
Chir., 1889; "Querbruch der Kniescheibe; Eroffnung des Gelenkes, Vernah- 
ung der Fragmente mit Catgut; Heilung," Arch. f. klin. Chir., 1889; 
"Osteomyelitis of Humerus, and Other Cases," Medical News, 1889; "Ex- 
hibition of Large Dermoid Cyst," Western Medical Reporter, 1889; "Ovar- 
iotomy," Medical News, 1890; "Remarks on the arrangements necessary 
previous to performing operations," New Orleans Medical and Surgical 
Journal, 1889-90; "A Series of Thirty Clinical Laparotomies," American 
Journal Obstetrics, 1890; "Report of Clinical Laparotomies during Eighteen 
Months at Rush Medical College," Obstetrical Gazette, 1890; "Two Cases 
of Old Irreducible Dislocation of the Hip, treated by open incision," North 
American Practitioner, 1890; "Uterine Myoma," Journal American Medical 
Association, 1890; "Renal Calculus and Surgical Operations upon Kidney," 
Journal American Medical Association, 1891 ; "Death During Chloroform 
Administration," Journal American Medical Association, 1891 ; "Operative 
Treatment of Goitre," Chicago Medical Recorder, 1891 ; "Gall-stones, and 
their Surgical Relief," Ibid., 1891 ; "Scirrhus of the Breast," International 
Clinic, 1891 ; "Epiphyseal Fracture of Upper End of the Humerus," Ibid., 
1891 ; and "On the Pathology, Etiology and Treatment of Hip Joint Disease, 
in the Light of Present Bacteriological and Operative Experience," Annals 
of Surgery, 1892. 

Among the many tributes paid to the memory of Dr. Parkes and the 
work he so successfully and so thoroughly accomplished. Dr. John Owens 
writes : "My first recollection of Dr. Charles T. Parkes was during his stu- 
dent life. He shortly after became a Demonstrator of Anatomy in Rush 
College, and was one of the most useful and competent teachers in the college. 
After holding the Chair of Anatomy for many years, to the great benefit of 
the College, he became Professor of the Principles and Practice of Surgery, 
after the death of Dr. Moses Gunn. Dr. Parkes died of pneumonia during his 
professorship. He did a great deal of experimental work, and was one of 
the earliest investigators of wounds of the intestines, and probably laid the 
foundation of intestinal surgery, giving that branch of the art a great im- 
petus. He was also a great help to the students, and few members of the 
Faculty were more popular on account of intrinsic worth than Dr. Parkes." 
Dr. Eugene S. Talbot has written : "Dr. Charles T. Parkes. one of the most 
enthusiastic teachers and investigators of his time, felt vividly the wave of 
original research that surged up in the eighties. This brilliant scholar and 
surgeon was thus led to initiate most intricate studies in abdominal and in- 
testinal surgery, and thereby laid the foundation for the most successful 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 229 

modern operations. His ability as a teacher of anatomy was far beyond that 
of the average professor. His death caused a great loss to science, the medi- 
cal profession and the community." 

In private life Dr. Parkes was genial and fond of society, although the 
engrossing nature of his professional engagements left him little time in 
which to indulge his natural bent. He was a member of the Union and the 
Union League Clubs, and held high rank in the Masonic order. During the 
greater part of the year study and work constituted his chief recreations, 
although he sometimes found time in which to become a charming guest at 
social functions or a genial, courteous host. He was a thorough-going sports- 
man and an expert with both rod and gun. Each summer he was wont to 
seek recuperation in hunting and fishing. He was a member of a fishing 
club whose annual excursion was to the primeval forests of Restigauche, New 
Brunswick, where he used to delight in drawing from the water the salmon, 
not infrequently landing one twenty-five pounds in weight. At other times 
he loved to wander with his rifle, in the trackless Wisconsin woods, where 
large game were to be found, and where he once brought down a black bear 
weighing two hundred pounds. 

His domestic life was one of exceptional happiness. His wife's maiden 
name was Isabella J. Gonterman. She was descended from one of the old 
families of Kentucky, and gave her, hand in marriage to Dr. Parkes, at Troy, 
Illinois, in 1868. Their children were Charles Herbert and Irene Edna. 
The son graduated with distinction from Rush in 1897, and the following 
year was appointed assistant in Anatomy to Professor Bevan, and in March, 
1901, appointed assistant in Surgery. During the summer of 1890 Dr. 
Parkes sent his family abroad in order that the son and daughter might enjoy 
better advantages for the study of foreign languages. In the spring of 1891 
he was attacked by pneumonia. His professional brethren did all that medi- 
cal skill, joined to personal love, could do to preserve a life so valuable alike 
to his family and friends, to science and to the world, but the dread disease 
defied remedial care, and on March 28th the great surgeon fell asleep. Scarcely 
more than forty-eight years old, in the full vim and vigor of robust man- 
hood, and at the very zenith of his fame, he died. At first thought, it seems 
strange that a life so full of glorious possibilities should thus be so abruptly 
terminated. But the keen clear eye of faith can pierce the dark clouds that 
seem to settle around the horizon of the grave, and gaze behind the veil of 
immortality. In the world of science in which he shone so brightly, he yet 
lives. To those who knew him best and loved him most his memory will 
ever remain as an abiding presence, a never failing incentive, and a perpetual 
benediction. Such lives as his are never lost. 



230 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



MALCOLM LaSALLE HARRIS, M. D. 



Beginning as a general physician some twenty years ago, Dr. Harris was 
soon recognized as having peculiar qualifications for the surgical branch of 
his profession. From taking particular interest in such cases, and giving 
all available time to their study and treatment, he came to make Surgery his 
specialty, and has given all his time to that line since 1890. His success 
may be best judged by the standing he has gained in such a center of ad- 
vanced thought and up-to-date practice as the city of Chicago, and by the 
positions of high responsibility to which he has been called. As an active 
practitioner, an advocate of and worker for the most progressive methods, 
and a prolific writer on topics relating to his specialty, he is a very busy man. 
and to much purpose. 

Dr. Harris was born June 27, 1862, in Port Byron, Illinois, son of Samuel 
Gedney and Frances Thankful (Greene) Harris, and is descended on both 
sides from old New England ancestry. The father, who was a merchant, 
was born and reared in Boston, in which city his ancestors had lived for 
generations, they having been of the Puritan stock which came from Eng- 
land at an early day. Mrs. Harris was born in Vermont, a daughter of 
Josiah Greene, and a descendant of Gen. Xathanael Greene, whose fore- 
fathers came to these shores from England in early Colonial days, and lived 
in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont. 

M. L. Harris received his literary education in the public schools, and 
his professional training in Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he 
graduated in 1882. Following his graduation lie was Interne in the Cook 
County Hospital until 1884. and in the latter year took up private practice 
in Chicago, continuing as a general physician and surgeon until 1890. since 
when he has devoted himself exclusively to Surgery. Regarding his fitness 
for this line, Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., of Chicago, under date of October 9. 
1903, writes : 

"Dr. M. L. Harris, of Chicago, commenced the practice of his profession 
twenty years since, and early developed a predilection fur Surgery. Though 
still belonging to the younger class of surgeons, he has. during the last decade, 
made rapid advancement in the field of operative surgery, in which he is not 
only a thorough student, but is also possessed of those mental qualities that 
fit him for a true leader in this his chosen department. He is a valuable 
contributor to the pages of medical literature, and an active supporter of 
medical organizations, both State and National."* 

Dr. Harris is Professor of Surgery in the Chicago Policlinic, with 
which institution he has been connected since its inception, in 1887: Surgeon 
to the Alexian Brothers, Passavant, Children's and Policlinic Hospitals ; 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 231 

Chief Surgeon to the Chicago Union Traction Company; Surgeon to the 
Grand Trunk Railway Company; and Medical Referee for the Mutual Life 
Insurance Company of New York. 

The Doctor holds membership in various' organizations of his profession,, 
being connected with the International Surgical Association, the American 
Surgical Association, the American Medical Association, the American 
Society of Clinical Surgery, the Western Surgical and Gynecological Asso- 
ciations, and the Illinois State Medical, the Chicago Surgical, the Chicago 
Medical, the Chicago Gynecological, the Chicago Pathological and the 
Physicians National X-Ray Societies. He was president of the Illinois State 
Medical Society in 1902, and is at present one of the trustees of the Ameri- 
can Medical Association. 

Dr. Harris was married to Miss Rose Breckenridge, and they have one 
child, Florence. 



JOHN B. HAMILTON, M. D., LL. D. 

Dr. John B. Hamilton, late of Chicago, was born in Jersey county, 
Illinois, December 1, 1847. He was one of the most distinguished medical 
men of the United States, and he enjoyed, without doubt, the widest personal 
acquaintance of American physicians. He stood foremost among medical 
editors, and won a national reputation for executive ability, and he possessed 
over a score of certificates of honorable mention for worthy and valuable 
service, of membership in American and European scientific societies, and 
was the recipient of many degrees and tokens of honor. He was a well-known 
and well-recognized leader of debates in medical societies. His reputation 
long ago passed from a local to a national one, and he was known on both 
sides of the Atlantic. The world instinctively pays deference to the man who 
achieves success and fame worthily, who so industriously applies his talents 
as to force wide recognition from State and Nation. Dr. Hamilton was one 
of the few men, endowed by nature with rare ability, and the State Legisla- 
ture mentioned him for meritorious service, while national cabinet officials 
singled him out for honorable mention for valuable services. 

Dr. Hamilton was graduated from Rush Medical College in 1869, and 
he continued in general practice from March, 1869, until 1874. In 1871 
he married Miss Mary L. Frost, who with two children, Ralph Alexander 
and Blanche, survives him. He entered the army by competitive examination 
in 1874, as Assistant Surgeon and First Lieutenant, serving in St. Louis, 
and Washington Territory, until 1876, when he resigned. He then entered 
the Marine Hospital service, also by competitive examination, in which he 



232 



A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 



rapidly rose to the rank of Supervising Surgeon-General, succeeding Gen. 
John M. Woodworth, who died March 10, 1879. In this department Dr. 
Hamilton won his well deserved and widely recognized reputation as a man 
of superior executive ability. He organized the whole department, and finally 
succeeded in placing it practically on equal footing with the Corps of the 
Army and Navy. He first introduced the important visual examination of 
pilots, and physical examination of seamen. Through Dr. Hamilton's ef- 
forts chiefly, and from his own drafting, the national quarantine acts were 
passed. He successfully managed campaigns against epidemics of yellow 
fever, and received the thanks of the Legislature of Florida for services dur- 
ing the epidemic of December, 1889. In June, 1891, Dr. Hamilton resigned 
because the House of Representatives failed for a second time to pass the 
Senate bill which provided that the salary of the Supervising Surgeon-General 
of the Marine service should be equal to that of the Surgeon-General 
of the Army and the Surgeon-General of the Navy, after which he entered 
again the ranks of the service. He was assigned to duty in Chicago, and 
removed thither. His rare executive ability, his meritorious service and dis- 
tinguished surgical skill won for him a position in Rush Medical College, 
his old Alma Mater, as one of the successors of the immortal Brainard. 
While in Washington he was Surgeon to Providence Hospital, where he held 
a weekly clinic, and he was the Professor of Surgery in Georgetown Univer- 
sity Medical Department for eight years, up to 1891, when he left Wash- 
ington. In 1888 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from the Univer- 
sity of Georgetown. On returning to Chicago, he was made Professor of 
the Principles of Surgery and Clinical Surgery in Rush Medical College, 
Surgeon to the Presbyterian Hospital, and Professor of Surgery in the 
Chicago Policlinic, Consulting Surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital, and to the 
Central Free Dispensary. In 1887 he was the Secretary-general of the Ninth 
International Medical Congress, held in Washington, and in 1890 he was 
a delegate from our government to the International Medical Congress, held 
in Berlin, and there made the response on behalf of the American delegates 
to the address of welcome. Professor Hamilton held a weekly surgical clinic 
at Rush Medical College. He was author of various articles in medical 
journals, and of "Lessons on Longevity," and "Lectures on Tumors," and 
was the American editor of Moulin's Surgery, published in 1893. He 
founded "Camp Perry" in Florida, in the yellow fever epidemic of 1888. 
and in 1892 founded "Camp Low." on Sandy Hook. New Jersey, as a refuge, 
or cholera camp, for the overflow from New York quarantine. In 1893 he 
was elected editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and 
through his four years of successful management, that magazine had a circu- 
lation of over 12,000. As Executive President of the Section on General Sur- 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 233 

gery, in the first Pan-American Medical Congress, he delivered an address on 
"General Surgery," and subsequently wrote an editorial of great interest for 
the Journal on the "Future Great University," and the establishment of such 
an institution in this country, suggested by this assembly of physicians of the 
Western Hemisphere. He was an efficient member and official of various 
medical congresses, being Secretary-General of the Ninth International Medi- 
cal Congress at Washington. 

During Dr. Hamilton's professional life he several times had occasion 
to resign from important offices, but subsequently circumstances have shown 
his action to be the most dignified and proper course to pursue. Mr. Foster, 
formerly Secretary of the Treasury, remarked, "I do not believe the country 
has produced an abler man in his line than Dr. J. B. Hamilton." Mr. Tiche- 
nor, first Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, said, "Dr. Hamilton as a 
bureau officer was exceptionally able and efficient, displaying in every emer- 
gency administrative abilities of the very highest order." During all this 
time he kept up his surgery at Providence Hospital, and it was there that, 
in 1895, he made the second successful operation for suturing intestines for 
pistol shot wounds. 

The essential feature of Dr. Hamilton's surgical work was accurate diag- 
nosis and rapid operating. His surgical clinic was of inestimable practical 
value to students, inasmuch as his views and labors in surgery were conserva- 
tive. He was an impressive and forcible teacher, a fluent and entertaining 
speaker, using expressions at once concise and classical, while his striking 
personality infused much dignity into his subject. 

Among the surgical operations for which Prof. Hamilton was justly 
famous was that for hernia, he being one of the first surgeons to introduce 
the modern methods of herniotomy in Chicago, and his classical paper read 
in Chicago, in 1886, to which the reader may be referred, is one of the most 
accurate, concise and instructive articles on this subject. To illustrate his ex- 
tensive practice in herniotomy at one of his recent clinics at Rush Medical 
College, he presented in the arena eight cases of herniotomy on which he had 
operated, in none of which was a drop of pus, a showing of which any sur- 
geon may well be proud, for if there be any locality in the human body which 
it is difficult to preserve aseptic after operation, it is the groin. The proximity 
of the groin to the genitals, the accumulation of considerable low.-grade non- 
resisting fat tissue and its limited vascular supply, makes operations on the 
groin prone to suppuration. 

Dr. Hamilton's method of performing herniotomy was the result of the 
previous twenty years' accumulation in surgical progress. It included the ad- 
vance in herniotomy made by such surgeons as Champonnier, Marey, Basini, 
Halstead, Ferguson, Senn, and others, which consists in an efficient restoration 



234 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

of abdominal walls, which were made deficient by cogenital, or acquired, pro- 
cesses. In doing the operation the cord is removed from its old dilated inguinal 
canal to a location immediately under the superficial and deep fascia, and its 
abnormal point of exit is removed nearer to the anterior iliac spine. The ingui- 
nal canal pillars of the hernial ring, or better the slit in the inguinal region, is 
closed by three to five silver wire sutures, which are left permanently buried. 
The superficial and deep fascia is sutured over the spermatic cord by catgut, 
and the skin is united by interrupted silkworm gut sutures. Many a surgeon 
has profited by observation of Dr. Hamilton's labors in herniotomy, and 
Chicago was justly proud of him as one of its distinguished men of science. 

Dr. Hamilton combined the rare traits of an eminent citizen, a distin- 
guished man of letters and a skilled surgeon. He was an honorable gentle- 
man and a genial companion, and a friend of whom many were proud. His 
circle of usefulness increased with time. He was always an industrious man. 
and few would care to work as many hours in the day as he did for the last 
fifteen years of his life. Shortly before his death, without his asking, the 
Governor of Illinois requested him to become Superintendent of the Illinois 
Northern Hospital for the Insane at Elgin, and by great economy of his 
time, he found that he would be able to accept it. His force as an organizer 
was soon felt. Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., says of Dr. Hamilton : "A man of 
much activity and force of character, a successful writer and teacher, and a 
very efficient executive officer as shown by his work in connection with the 
United States Marine Hospital service, the Ninth International Medicine 
Congress of 1887, and the editorship of the Journal of the American Medi- 
cal Association." 

Dr. John B. Hamilton died at the age of fifty-one in the prime of physi- 
cal vigor. He was attacked by typhoid fever which progressed until an in- 
testinal perforation occurred, and he succumbed to hemorrhage from the 
bowels several days later. Dr. Hamilton was a dignified gentleman of mili- 
tary bearing, of polite manners and of simple habits. He was of amiable 
disposition and mild to his associates. He was generous to a fault, chival- 
rous, bold and sternly resolute in duty. He was beloved by his friends and he 
commanded esteem even from his foes. 

[Byrox Robixsox.] 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 235 

EPHRAIM INGALS, M. D. 

The Ingals family was planted in America by Edmund Ingalls, who 
came from England with Governor Endicott's colony, landing at Salem in 
September, 1628. Edmund Ingalls was the first settler of Lynn, Massachusetts. 
From him all of the name of Ingalls or Ingals on this side of the Atlantic have 
descended. Of this number Ephraim Ingals was born in Abington, Connecti- 
cut, May 26, 1823, the youngest of nine children. His father and mother 
both dying before he was eight years old, the family became scattered, and 
young Ephraim was turned adrift in the world, his future depending on his 
own efforts. In 1837 he came to what is now Lee county, Illinois, where he 
worked three years on a farm. For a short time he attended school in Prince- 
ton, Mt. Morris and Jacksonville, Illinois. Having but little money to 
acquire even an education, he was obliged to combine manual labor 
with study. He attended lectures in Rush Medical College during 
the sessions of 1845-46 and 1846-47, graduating in February of the 
last year. After practicing medicine ten years in Lee Center, Illinois, he re- 
moved to Chicago, where he soon acquired a good reputation as a general 
practitioner, and came to be regarded as a business man of more than or- 
dinary capacity. He was associated for a time in the conduct of the North- 
western Medical and Surgical Journal with Prof. Daniel Brainard, and later 
with Prof. De Laskie Miller. He was ever a close friend of Dr. Brainard, 
and was appointed by him as the executor of his estate. In 1859 he was 
elected Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in Rush Medical Col- 
lege, to succeed Dr. John H. Rauch, who had resigned. He accepted the posi- 
tion, and entered upon the discharge of its duties with the same industry and 
fidelity that had characterized him in all other relations of life. He was not 
a brilliant lecturer, but a superior teacher whose instruction was character- 
ized by clearness of expression and sound practical application, and he added 
much strength to the Faculty. He continued to discharge the duties of his 
professorship for eleven years, during much of which time he was also 
Treasurer of the college and an active worker in the construction of a new 
building. At this time his extensive private practice and college duties often 
compelled him to go to his early morning lecture without having slept at all 
the previous night. During all of these years he missed only one lecture, and 
that was at the time of Dr. Brainard's death. In 1871 he resigned the chair 
of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the college and was elected Emeritus 
Professor. Soon after his resignation the Chicago fire swept away the 
improvements on the greater part of his real estate and it required the labor 
of years to repair his losses. Through it all, however, he retained his original 
interest in the welfare of the medical profession and of Rush Medical College as 



236 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

his Alma mater, for he had no sooner recovered from the effects of the great 
fire, and secured for himself a fair income, than he began to devise ways and 
means for advancing the interests of both. His first suggestion was for the 
securing of a lot and suitable building for a permanent medical library for the 
benefit of the profession at large. Finding himself forestalled in this by the offer 
of the trustees of the Newberry Library to provide a permanent Medical 
Library Department in that institution, he cordially gave his personal in- 
fluence in that direction, and turned his attention more actively to the work 
of elevating the standard of medical education. He was a strong advocate 
of a higher requirement of general education for students before commencing 
the study of medicine, and for an increased term of graded medical college 
instruction before graduation. He did not limit his influence in those direc- 
tions solely to the advancement of Rush Medical College, but gave substantial 
encouragement to the Medical Department of the Northwestern University 
by a donation of $10,000 toward the erection of the present excellent labora- 
tory building of that institution. He was greatly interested in having Rush 
Medical College become the Medical Department of the University of 
Chicago, and gave $25,000 to the college at the time it became affiliated with 
that institution, with the foresight to see that this step would be a great factor 
in the advancement of medical education throughout the country. 

Of him Dr. Nicholas Senn has written : "Dr. Ephraim Ingals was the 
type of a family physician. He was a leader in his profession, loved by his 
students and universally respected by his colleagues. Although not an author 
he added to the advancement of medicine by his teachings and practice." 

Dr. Ingals gave up all practice in 1893, but retained his interest in medi- 
cal affairs until the close of lilfe. He died of senile heart and angina pectoris 
December 18, 1900, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. 



DANIEL BRA1NARD, M. D. 

Dr. Daniel Brainard, of Chicago, Illinois, was born in YVesternville, 
Oneida county, New York, May 15. 1812, and died October 10. 1866. He re- 
ceived a fair general education; studied medicine in the office of Dr. Pope, 
of Rome, New York, a prominent surgeon, and was graduated in medicine 
from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1834. at a time when Dr. 
George McClellan. the founder of the institution, was in the zenith of his 
renown. Dr. Brainard immediately commenced the practice of his profession 
in Whitesboro, a village in his native county; but the next year, prompted 
by a just ambition for a wider field of professional work, he removed to 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 237 

Chicago. Hon. John Dean Caton, who had been a student of law in Rome, 
New York, while Dr. Brainard was studying medicine in the same place, but 
who had already established himself in a law office in Chicago, describes 
the arrival of the latter in the following language: 

"About the 1st of September, 1835, Dr. Brainard rode up to my office 
wearing pretty seedy clothes and mounted on a little Indian pony. He re- 
ported that he was nearly out of funds, and asked my advice as to the pro- 
priety of commencing practice here. I knew him to have been an ambitious 
and studious young man of great firmness and ability, and I did not doubt 
that the three years since I had seen him had been profitably spent in acquiring 
a knowledge of his profession. I advised him to go to the Indian camp, where 
the Pottowatomies were gathered preparatory to starting for their new loca- 
tion west of the Mississippi river, sell his pony, take a desk or rather a little 
table in my office and put his shingle by the side of the door, promising to 
aid him, as best I could, in building up a business." 

Dr. Brainard appears to have made rather slow progress during the first 
two years, but in 1838 a laborer on the canal, several miles from the city, 
received a fracture of the thighbone, and before complete union had taken 
place he came to Chicago on foot, which induced so much inflammation that 
at a council, at which were present Drs. Brainard, Goodhue, Maxwell and 
Eagan, it was decided that amputation was necessary. The majority advised 
amputation below the trochanters, while Dr. Brainard thought it should be 
done at the hip joint. Dr. Brainard was selected to operate, while Dr. Good- 
hue was to compress the femoral artery. The young surgeon dexterously 
removed the limb below the trochanters, but finding the medullary substance 
of the bone diseased higher up, he immediately proceeded to amputate at the 
hip joint. The patient progressed favorably for one month, and the wounds 
were nearly healed, when secondary hemorrhage occurred, proving fatal. 
The post-mortem examination revealed a large, bony neoplasm attached to 
the pelvic bones and surrounding the femoral artery. The case attracted 
much attention at the time, and contributed largely toward giving the opera- 
tor a leading position as a surgeon. 

In 1839 the Doctor visited Paris, France, and spent some time in further 
studies, having reference to the opening of the new medical college in Chicago, 
which was accomplished in December, 1843, and named in honor of Dr. 
Rush. In this institution Dr. Brainard became the Professor of Anatomy and 
Surgery. He now rapidly acquired a high reputation as a teacher and surgi- 
cal operator, and for twenty years did a large surgical practice, more ex- 
tensive, in fact, than any other in the Northwest. In 1852 he visited Europe 
the second time; was elected an honorary member of the Surgical Society of 



23 8 A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

Paris, and brought home some osteological specimens for the museum of 
Rush Medical College. 

"In the spring of 1866 he crossed the Atlantic a third time, and spent 
a few months on the continent, but returned home in time to commence his 
annual course of lectures on Surgery in Rush Medical College. The epidemic 
cholera had been prevailing in many places in this country during the sum- 
mer of 1866, and had prevailed moderately in Chicago, from the last week in 
June to the middle of August, when it entirely ceased. Consequently all 
those citizens who had left the city early in the season, to escape exposure 
to the dreaded disease, returned in September, supposing all danger passed. 
But about the 1st of October the disease suddenly developed with renewed 
violence, and caused a thousand deaths before the end of the month. Among 
the early victims was Dr. Brainard, who was attacked soon after leaving the 
lecture room of the college, and died in a few hours. He had been a firm 
believer in its direct contagiousness, and had in all previous epidemics, from 
1849 to 1854, avoided as far as possible any personal contact with cases of 
the disease. Neither, is it known that he had been directly in contact with 
any case before the final attack upon himself." 

Dr. Brainard was a close student, an original or rather an independent 
thinker, and an active investigator. During the years from 1849 to 1851 
be used a solution of iodine and iodide of potassium, by injection into serous 
sacs, filled with serous fluid, including cases of ascites, hydrocephalus, spina 
bifida and even edema of the extremities, on the theory that changing the 
quality of the dropsical fluid would stop further effusion and promote ab- 
sorption. He reported several cases as much improved, but the effects were 
generally temporary. 

During the same years he made many experiments in the hope of finding 
some remedy that would cure cancerous growths, by destroying the cancer 
cells, either by local application or by injection into the blood, or by both. 
He prepared solutions of a dozen or more substances, such as bichloride of 
mercury, arsenic, extract of conium, iodide and lactate of iron, into which he 
put pieces of cancerous tumor, and note carefully the effects upon cancerous 
tissue. The mercury, arsenic and iodine, being good antiseptics, preserved the 
tissue, while the lactic acid, with the iron, rapidly digested or dissolved it. 
He then injected between five and ten grains of lactate of iron, dissolved in 
pure water, into the cephalic vein of a moderate sized dog. without any in- 
jurious effects. Encouraged by this result, he began to treat all cases of 
cancer that came under his care by giving ordinary doses of lactate of iron 
by the stomach, and injecting once in from six to ten days a solution of the 
same into the blood through a vein in the arm. especially to destroy such 
cancer cells as might be diffused, while when practicable the cancerous 



\ 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 239 

growths were thoroughly removed by surgical operation. He reported 
several cases as favorably affected by the treatment and one case of 
acephalous disease of the eyeball in an adult was reported in the American 
Journal of Medical Science as effectually cured. Unfortunately, however, 
the disease re-appeared in a few months and proceeded to a fatal termination. 
One fact was developed during the progress of these experiments worth re- 
membering, namely, that a given substance may be injected into the venous 
blood with safety that if injected into the arteries or into the areolar tissue 
would produce the most destructive effects. Several times, when endeavor- 
ing to inject a solution of lactate of iron into one of the veins of the arm, a 
few drops were allowed, by mistake, to infiltrate the areolar tissue, and it in- 
variably* destroyed all such tissue, leaving a clean, ulcerated surface. 

While he was in the active prosecution of these experiments, a patient 
came under the care of Dr. Brainard, with a well-formed popliteal aneurism. 
Instead of litigating the artery, he conceived the idea of coagulating the blood 
in the aneurismal sac. Of course the lactate was carried into the capillaries 
of the leg, and it was speedily followed by an inflammation so intense and ex- 
tensive that amputation of the limb became necessary. 

While in Paris, in 1852, Dr. Brainard prosecuted a series of experiments 
with iodine to neutralize the poison of serpents, and communicated the re- 
sults to the Surgical Society of that city ; and after his return he presented an 
essay embodying the same facts to the Illinois State Medical Society. An- 
other line of investigation that engaged his attention for several years was 
the successful treatment of false joints by the subcutaneous perforation of 
fractured bones by means of wire sutures. This surgical procedure, how- 
ever, was not original with him, as it had been successfully established by 
Dr. Physick, in the early part of the last century. The results obtained, how- 
ever, by Dr. Brainard were embodied in an essay presented to the American 
Medical Association, at the annual meeting at St. Louis, in 1854, which re- 
ceived the prize awarded that year, and was published in the Transactions 
the same year. 

In subsequent years Dr. Brainard, like others of his adopted city, yielded 
to the temptation to increase his pecuniary resources by dealing in real estate 
and public business, and gave correspondingly less attention to original in- 
vestigation, or even to the practical duties of his profession. After the great 
Rebellion had begun, in 1861, he was appointed on the State Board for ex- 
amining candidates for appointment as surgeons and as assistant surgeons 
to the numerous regiments of Illinois volunteers, and rendered good service 
in that capacity. 

Physically Dr. Brainard was tall and well proportioned, dignified in 
manner, bordering on reserve; as a public speaker, or in his lecture room in 



2 4 o A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED 

the college, he was clear, forcible, and always commanded attention, and he 
retained his popularity and controlling influence as Professor of Surgery and 
as President of Rush Medical College, of which he was the chief founder, 
until his sudden death, which occurred when he was aged only fifty-four 
years, and when at the height of his eventful and exalted professional career. 
He lived, however, to see the city of his adoption, in which he had always 
been a conspicuous personage, increase from a population no greater than an 
ordinary county seat to a metropolis of two hundred thousand. At the time 
of his death he had been engaged on an extensive surgical work, which re- 
mains unfinished, but those yet living who have listened to his clinical teach- 
ing, and have witnessed his skill as an operator, will long remember him as 
one of the most eminent of American surgeons. 



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